Slavan Bilic will return to the London Stadium on Saturday as West Bromwich Albion take on West Ham United in the fourth round of the FA Cup.
Bilic was sacked by West Ham in November 2017. But the Croatian manager will be hopeful of making a return to the Premier League soon after guiding the Baggies to the top of the Championship.
West Brom have lost just three of their 28 league games this term and find themselves one point clear of second-place Leeds United in the Championship standings.
Albion are the highest scoring side in the second-tier this season with 50 goals to their name. However, no other team in the top five has conceded more goals than West Brom.
Despite sitting at the top of the table, Bilic’s side are without a win in their previous six league games. Four draws and two defeats have seen West Brom stutter in recent weeks.
With that being said, West Ham are also enduring a poor run of form. One win in six has left the Hammers sitting just outside the relegation zone on goal difference.
Following the sacking of Manuel Pellegrini, David Moyes has been unable to lift West Ham up the table. A 4-1 defeat at the hands of Leicester City in the previous game underlined their problems.
Still, West Brom have failed to win any of their previous nine away matches against West Ham. Their record of six draws and three defeats will fill the Hammers with hope.
Leicester take the points.#LEIWHU— West Ham United (@WestHam) January 22, 2020
Leicester take the points.#LEIWHU
Additionally, West Ham haven’t lost an FA Cup home game against a team outside of the Premier League since 1997.
Jack Wilshire, Andriy Yarmolenko, Ryan Fredericks and Felipe Anderson will all be unavailable for selection on Saturday, while Lukasz Fabianski continues to recover from injury.
As for West Brom, Bilic will be hoping that Grady Diangana will be fit after the forward hobbled off after just two minutes in their previous game.
There isn’t much to separate the two teams at the moment. West Ham are struggling at the bottom end of the Premier League, while West Brom are flying high at the top of the Championship.
For that reason, Forebet predicts that this game will end in a draw. Both teams are likely to score, but neither side are expected to find a winning goal.