West Ham welcome Everton to the London Stadium in another crunch Premier League clash and six big pundits have had their say.
The stakes really are high when West Ham face Everton in the Premier League on Saturday.
That seems to be the case every week for Julen Lopetegui and Sean Dyche at the moment.
Especially in the wake of reports the owners of both clubs are nervously watching whether the other will wield the axe with mutual West Ham and Everton interest in Sergio Conceicao.
It will be alarming for 14th placed West Ham – after a £155m summer spend – that Everton could go above them with a win.
Especially after Dyche’s side made their worst ever start to a top flight campaign.
There are conflicting rumours about what might happen to the losing manager.
But pressure on Lopetegui is not helped by the fact he will be without star player Mohammed Kudus and midfielder Edson Alvarez through suspension against the Toffees.
Big six pundits predict crunch West Ham v Everton clash
Jean-Clair Todibo is also a major doubt for the Hammers.
Although there was welcome good news for West Ham on the eve of the game as pictures emerged of Jarrod Bowen back training.
For many Hammers fans losing at home to Everton will be the final straw for Lopetegui.
Everton have a had much the better of fixtures between the two sides historically.
The Blues have beaten West Ham more than any other side – 75 times.
West Ham by contrast have won 45 of their encounters with 31 draws.
But how do the experts see it going?
Mark Lawrenson has made a bonkers West Ham claim as the big six pundits predict this crunch Everton clash.
Shearer says it’s make or break for Lopetegui at West Ham
Premier League legend Alan Shearer believes this could be make-or-break for Lopetegui at West Ham.
And for that very reason he’s backing the Hammers to get the win.
“This is a massive game for Julen Lopetegui,” Shearer told The Metro.
“If West Ham lose, the noise around him and the club will be huge.
“Everton had a poor result against Southampton last week and they’re away again here so I’m not convinced they can turn up and win.
“I’ll go for a West Ham win because they simply have to.”
Sky Sports expert says Summerville could be key to Hammers win
Lewis Jones – aka Jones Knows – is one of Sky Sports’ leading Football analysts.
He shares Shearer’s confidence and believes West Ham’s superior attacking threat will be the difference in a 2-1 win.
Jones has also noticed something very specific which could decide the game – corners.
“With West Ham’s greater threat in the final third rightly makes them favourites… but they aren’t a team I’m comfortable investing in,” Jones said on Sky Sports.
“As we referenced last week, only Jack Clarke (76) won more corners last season in the Championship than Crysencio Summerville (65).
“And, Everton do tend to ship a healthy amount of corners in away games of this nature as since Dyche took charge they have conceded 5.5 corners per game against teams in the bottom 10 of the Premier League away from Goodison Park. West Ham to win 2-1.”
Lawrenson’s bonkers West Ham claim as he predicts winner
Lawrenson has given an extremely peculiar take on the game.
Lawro is infamous among West Ham fans for rarely backing them to win in his days doing predictions for BBC Sport.
So it may shock Hammers fans he has them down to beat the Toffees. But the reason he gives is far from convincing as it makes little sense.
Lawrenson says: “Everton should have won against Southampton and that ended their unbeaten run.
“West Ham are starting to show signs of life so I fancy them here. West Ham 2-0 Everton.”
Signs of life? Did he not watch the 3-0 defeat to Forest last weekend?
Merson thinks West Ham will do manager a massive favour
Paul Merson is another who can’t seem to make his mind up about the Hammers.
He has once again uttered the words every West Ham fan hates hearing: “Be careful what you wish for.”
The pundit echoed Shearer’s comments, saying Lopetegui is now under pressure to deliver.
But Merson feels the Spaniard still doesn’t know his best XI.
Despite all that, he predicts West Ham will do Lopetegui a massive favour by beating Everton 2-0 on Saturday.
“Julen Lopetegui is under pressure to deliver at West Ham,” Merson told Sportskeeda.
“The problem with them is the inconsistency. They’re one of them teams who could win a couple of games and then go lose a few on the trot. And when they get beat, they capitulate, like they did last weekend against Nottingham Forest!
“I always go back to this with West Ham, be careful what you wish for. David Moyes is a good manager and they won a European trophy under him. Don’t forget that this was a West Ham that did nothing for many years. Sometimes people can get caught up in the total football philosophy and overlook the fact that it’s always about winning games.
“I still doubt Lopetegui knows his best XI. However, I expect West Ham to win here. Everton could now be dragged back into the relegation battle.”
Carragher predicts worst case scenario
Only a win will do if West Ham or Everton want to breathe life into their flagging campaigns.
So it does neither manager a favour that Jamie Carragher thinks it will be a draw.
Carragher had West Ham down as outsiders for a European spot at the start of the season.
Previewing the game for Sky Sports’ Super 6, Carragher predicted it will end 1-1 at the London Stadium.
That’s a result that is unlikely to do anything for West Ham’s ailing hopes of getting back into Europe and won’t greatly improve either side’s league positions.
Sutton thinks Lopetegui is bang in trouble
Chris Sutton agrees with Carragher and thinks the game will end in a score draw, 2-2.
But he believes Lopetegui is bang in trouble because his team lack any form of identity.
And Sutton questioned whether he was ever the right choice in the first place.
“West Ham are in trouble. As I said on the Monday Night Club, they don’t really have an identity under Julen Lopetegui,” Sutton told BBC Sport.
“He has always been a pragmatic manager in my eyes but they want to be a more expansive side and he is stuck somewhere in between at the moment.
“There is a lot of uncertainty around them at present, and I am certainly not convinced by them at home. They beat Manchester United there a couple of weeks ago, but they were lucky to win that one.
“While the Hammers are still above Everton in the table, the Toffees’ had been in better form, but then they lost at struggling Southampton last week which is a disappointing defeat whichever way you look at it.
“The only team Everton have beaten away this season is Ipswich, so I would not feel confident backing them to bounce back with a win here.
“I don’t want to pick another draw, but this has got one written all over it.”
So there you have it West Ham fans, not one of the six pundits predicted a defeat for Lopetegui’s side.
Four went for wins, two picked draws.
West Ham vs Everton kicks off at 3pm on Saturday, team news from 1.45pm.
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