West Ham will face Southampton at St. Mary’s Stadium in the fifth round of the FA Cup. This will be the third time the two sides have faced each other this season. Even though the Hammers are flying high this season, a loss to the Saints will see them not only eliminated from the FA Cup but with a 1D 2L record against Ralph Hasenhüttl’s men in the 2021/22 season.
Despite being winless against the Saints in the league, it is interesting to note Southampton has not defeated West Ham in the FA Cup in their history. The Hammers have a fine W3 D3 record against this round’s opponent.
With their top 4 dreams slipping away, a good run in the world’s oldest knockout football tournament could be a decent consolation prize for the East Londoners.
Southampton vs West Ham FYIs
When is it? Wednesday, 2 March 2022 7.30 PM
Where is it? St. Mary’s, Southampton
Who’s in form? Southampton (DWLWL) West Ham (LLWLW)
What are the odds? Southampton (+135) West Ham (-205) Draw (+245)
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Here is all the squad selection news that David Moyes has to contend with ahead of West Hams’s fifth-round clash in the FA Cup against Southampton.
The first thing to touch on is the fact that Ukrainian Andriy Yarmolenko will be unavailable for selection. There is no injury to the attacker, but West Ham has understandably granted him leave given the situation in Ukraine.
Vladimir Coufal will also be unavailable selection. The Czech right-back has had a bit of an injury-hit season. After missing the Newcastle game a week ago, it was determined that the best course of action for his hernia issue was surgery.
He will be out for at least three weeks.
Arthur Masuaku is still suffering from a knee injury and has been sent to a specialist to have it treated. He is being managed back to fitness but won’t be fit enough to take part in this clash.
Finally, we have Ryan Fredericks, who is out with a groin injury. The right-back has had an injury-hit campaign and this latest setback will see him miss the fifth-round match on the south coast.
On the bright side, the speedster’s latest injury is not considered too bad and he will return to first-team training sooner rather than later.
There are some significant outs for the Hammers here, particularly at right-back. It will be interesting to see what gaffer David Moyes does with his depleted squad, given its small size.
Stuart Kavanagh is an up-and-coming sports journalist from Melbourne, Australia. Along with being the owner of the sports and entertainment website thepyrrhic.com, he is also the co-host of the ‘After Extra Time’ podcast. Football mad, he is always down for debate and discussion at @stueyissickofit on Twitter.