West Ham tackles Championship side Blackburn Rovers this midweek in the EFL Cup. This is the first time that the two sides have met in this competition for over twenty years. The last time they met in this competition was back in October 2000. On that day, goals from Davor Suker and Paolo Di Canio secured victory for The Hammers.
West Ham head into this match on the back of a 2-1 defeat at home to Crystal Palace. It was not a performance that manager David Moyes would have been happy with, despite The Irons taking the lead twenty minutes in. Crystal Palace bossed the match and when Michael Olise secured an injury-time winner, no one could argue, perhaps, it wasn’t deserved.
Blackburn heads into this match sitting second in the Championship standings, just two points off of league leaders Burnley. Their last fixture was against Huddersfield Town at Ewood Park. That fixture resulted in a 1-0 win to Rovers on the back of a Ben Brereton goal.
West Ham vs Blackburn Rovers EFL Cup FYIs
Competition: EFL Cup, 3rd Round
Kickoff: Wed Nov 9, 7.45 pm, London Stadium
After Extra Time Pod: Apple ย ย Spotifyย ย
TV: UK-Sky Sports Main Event and Sky Sports Football
Team News
The Hammers will just be missing summer signing Maxwel Cornet for this fixture. Otherwise, The Irons medical room has cleared up in recent weeks.
Starting XI Prediction
This is tricky. In a regular season, you could almost guarantee that a Premier League side would play the kids in the third round of the EFL Cup. With a World Cup looming on the horizon, this is anything but a regular season. With just one week before teams essentially go on a winter break, it would not surprise if David Moyes went full strength here.
We think that after their abject performance against Palace, no player has earned the right to a rest. Here is how we predict West Ham to line up in the League Cup this midweek.
GK- Areola
DEF- Kehrer, Zouma, Dawson, Cresswell
MID- Downes, Rice, Fornals
ATT- Bowen, Antonio, Benrahma
Stueyโs Two Cents
Suppose West Ham doesnโt win here. It might be time to hit the panic button. Blackburn might be flying high, but letโs not forget that this West Ham squad was genuinely in the conversation for the top four for much of last season. If The Irons donโt get a positive result here, Iโd be surprised if David Moyes is still in the dugout post after the World Cup in Qatar.
Stuart Kavanagh is a journalist currently residing in Broken Hill, Australia. He writes for the Barrier Truth newspaper, along with being the owner of the sports and entertainment website thepyrrhic.com, He co-hosts the โAfter Extra Timeโ podcast and contributes at edgeofthecrowd.com when time permits. He is also the Media & Communications Director at the Newosis Mental Health Foundation. You can find more about the work Newosis Mental Health Foundation does here.
Football mad, he is always down for debate and discussion at @stueyissickofit on Twitter.
