West Ham United v Southampton
Premier League, London Stadium, Sunday 2 April 2023, 2pm BST
West Ham United return to home turf after the March international break when Southampton visit London Stadium in the Premier League on Sunday afternoon.
The Hammers are unbeaten at home this calendar year, having taken eight points from Premier League wins over Everton and Nottingham Forest and draws with Chelsea and Aston Villa, and beaten AEK Larnaca in the UEFA Europa Conference League round of 16.
Cup draws have seen the Irons play nine away games since the turn of the year, but David Moyes' squad will now play twice at London Stadium in the space of four days, with Newcastle United also visiting E20 next Wednesday evening.
A win for West Ham over the bottom-of-the-table Saints would take us out of the bottom three.
Tickets...
Tickets for this sold out game are available on the Ticket Exchange, with Season Ticket Holders who cannot attend this fixture relisting their seats for other supporters to buy. Click here to check availability or relist.
Travel...
Don't look now, but Greater Anglia services are serving (at least part of) Essex and Stratford on Sunday!
Greater Anglia services will yet again be suspended, this time between Colchester and Chelmsford, and the Braintree and Sudbury branch lines, due to engineering work.
Buses will replace trains between Colchester and Ingatestone, Sudbury and Marks Tey and between Braintree and Witham.
c2c services are also affected this weekend.
Due to engineering works between Liverpool Street and Barking, services will be diverted to Fenchurch Street and will call additionally at West Ham but will not call at Stratford. Supporters should alight at West Ham and catch the Jubilee line to Stratford.
Due to engineering works between Chafford Hundred and Pitsea, services will start/terminate at Chafford Hundred. Rail replacement services will be in operation between Chafford Hundred and Pitsea via Tilbury.
Due to works between Barking and Grays, these services WILL NOT RUN. Rail replacement services will run between Upminster/Rainham/Purfleet/Grays. Passengers with a valid ticket travelling to/from Dagenham Dock can use TfL’s EL2 or 287 bus services.
Engineering work between Woodgrange Park and Pitsea via Rainham means c2c services are to be diverted to Fenchurch Street via West Ham, and rail replacement buses are to operate between Grays, Purfleet, Rainham, and Upminster, and between Chafford Hundred and Pitsea via Grays. Passengers travelling to/from Dagenham Dock may use TfL bus services. Two trains per hour will operate between Fenchurch Street and Chafford Hundred.
And finally on c2c, engineering works between Chafford Hundred and Grays means supporters should take replacement bus services.
The disruption continues on Southeastern Railway services.
Engineering works between Sittingbourne and Herne Bay/Dover Priory means all lines will be closed and both trains between London Victoria and Ramsgate and High Speed services via Gravesend will terminate at Sittingbourne. Replacement buses will run between Sittingbourne and Herne Bay, Dover Priory (calling at Faversham and Canterbury East only), Selling minibus (calling at Teynham and Faversham only) and Canterbury East and Dover Priory.
Buses will also replace trains between Sevenoaks and Maidstone East via Borough Green and Wrotham due to engineering works. Works will also affect services between London Charing Cross and Dartford/Gravesend.
On the DLR, there will be no service between Stratford International-Canning Town. Fans should use the London Underground Jubilee line and London Buses.
On the London Overground, there will be no service between Clapham Junction-Surrey Quays. Replacement buses will operate. There will also be no service between Gospel Oak and Barking Riverside. Use local London Buses between Barking and Barking Riverside, and replacement buses between Walthamstow Central and Barking.
Thankfully, southeastern railway services will run as scheduled, with no planned engineering works.
Click here to plan your journey on the Transport for London network, or here for National Rail services.
How to Follow...
Sunday's game will be broadcast live by Sky Sports in the UK, but will be shown across the world by the Premier League's international broadcast partners.
You can listen to commentary in the UK on BBC Radio 5 live and BBC Radio London 94.9FM and worldwide on whufc.com and our official app.
You can also follow the action via our live blog on whufc.com and our app and across our social media channels. We will also have highlights and exclusive reaction for you after the final whistle.
Official Programme…
West Ham United's 116-page Official Programme for Sunday's Premier League fixture is available to order online now for just £4, plus £1.49 postage and packaging*.
Copies will be sent via first-class post. Full-season subscriptions are also available, including all Premier League, FA Cup and EFL Cup home issues, from just £119, from the Club's official West Ham Programmes shop.
Team News...
West Ham United have few injury concerns going into Sunday's game, and manager David Moyes will hope Michail Antonio has recovered from the calf injury he picked up after scoring twice in the 2-0 UECL round of 16 first leg win in Cyprus last month.
Łukasz Fabiański is recovering from a fractured eye socket, but has returned to full training, while Vladimír Coufal's plantar fascia issue in his heel abated to enable him to start twice for Czech Republic during the international break.
Southampton could be without Scotland international striker Ché Adams after he suffered a calf injury in a UEFA Euro 2024 qualifier with Cyprus.
Centre-back Mohamed Salisu (various) could be available, but defenders Armel Bella-Kotchap (shoulder), Valentino Livramento (muscle injury) and Juan Larios (leg) are all considered major doubts.
Opposition...
Eleven years after both celebrated promotion to the Premier League, West Ham United and Southampton find themselves front and centre of the battle to stay in the top-flight. Just as was the case in 2011/12, little separates the two. Two points and one place were the difference when the pair were promoted from the EFL Championship. Now, the gap is even smaller.
Since Southampton achieved automatic promotion from the second tier under Nigel Adkins and the Hammers reached the top-flight via the Play-off final win over Blackpool under Sam Allardyce, plenty has changed at both clubs. On the south coast, there was European football in 2015/16 and 2016/17, although now the focus is firmly on domestic survival. The stakes could not be higher with ten games to go – two fewer than the Hammers.
Relegation from the Premier League last happened in 2004/05 for Southampton, who then took seven years, one spent in EFL League One, to return. They know, from experience, that the drop to the second tier is not one to underestimate. They are ready to give it everything, knowing first-hand that it is tough to bounce back.
Already, Rubén Selles is the third manager tasked with keeping Southampton in the Premier League in 2022/23. Nathan Jones’ tenure came to an end in February, after the former Luton Town coach’s predecessor, Ralph Hasenhüttl, had been dismissed in November. The Austrian left the club after almost four years in charge but had won just three of their first 14 games of the 2022/23 season. Southampton decided to roll the dice once before. Now, they are gambling again.
Having been appointed caretaker boss twice, Selles took the reins until the end of the season. His record reads two wins in seven games. A 1-0 victory over Chelsea at Stamford Bridge – the first of his tenure – brought some confidence, although the club are bottom of the table as they head to London Stadium, albeit only two points behind Leicester City in 17th as Premier League football returned from the March international break.
In truth, Southampton’s struggles are nothing new. They have finished outside the bottom six and bettered 43 points just once in the previous five seasons – when Danny Ings’ 22 goals fired them to eleventh in 2019/20.
It is all a far cry from the four consecutive top-right finishes achieved under Mauricio Pochettino, Ronald Koeman and Claude Puel between 2013-17.
Indeed, a repeat of last season’s 15th-place finish would be welcomed across the city come the end of May.
Previous Meetings...
West Ham United's eight-match unbeaten run against the Saints in the Premier League came to an end on Boxing Day last season, when Southampton edged the Hammers 3-2 at London Stadium. Prior to that, the Irons had won six out of eight, with two draws.
The Premier League meeting at St Mary's in September ended goalless 2021, but West Ham were beaten 3-1 in Hampshire in an FA Cup fifth-round tie in March 2022.
The Irons dominated the reverse league game in Hampshire in October, but were held to a 1-1 draw despite Declan Rice's outstanding 25-yard strike.
Former Saints loanee Michail Antonio, who won the EFL Trophy with Southampton in 2010, scored the first of his Club-record 58 Premier League goals for West Ham in a 2-1 home win over his former club at the Boleyn Ground in December 2015.
The Hammers' biggest Premier League win over Southampton was a 4-1 victory at the Boleyn on 20 October 2012.
West Ham also lead the all-time stats against the Saints, winning 19 of the 40 Premier League meetings between the two, with 12 wins for Southampton and nine draws.
In all competitions, the Hammers' record win over the Saints came back in October 1913, when the east Londoners were 5-1 Southern Division victors at the Boleyn Ground.
Match Officials...
Referee: Paul Tierney
Assistant Referees: Constantine Hatzidakis & Neil Davies
Fourth Official: Anthony Taylor
VAR: Peter Bankes
Assistant VAR: Simon Bennett
Born in Salford, Manchester in December 1980, Paul Tierney is registered with the Lancashire Football Association and first got a taste for officiating in the Premier League in the 2008/09 season, when he served as the assistant referee for Hull City's visit to Newcastle United.
Tierney became a member of the National Group of Referees ahead of the 2009/10 campaign.
His first experience of being the man in the middle for a Premier League match came in the 2014/15 campaign, when he oversaw Swansea City versus West Bromwich Albion at the Liberty Stadium.
Tierney officiated the EFL Championship Play-Off final between Aston Villa and Derby County in May 2019 and also refereed the 2021 EFL Cup final between Manchester City and Tottenham Hotspur, both at Wembley.
He took charge of our 2-0 win over Wolves and 2-1 defeat by Crystal Palace at London Stadium earlier this season, and has refereed the Irons on 14 occasions in total.
