Manchester United will want to stay close to Manchester City with victory over West Ham United in an English Premier League game at Old Trafford on Saturday.
Only two points separate the top four at the moment, with Manchester United one point behind leaders City, who could go four clear of their neighbours with victory in the early game on Saturday.
Whatever the result in that match, Manchester United will be under pressure to perform, because they will not want to hand any of their title rivals an advantage by failing to pick up all three points against West Ham.
"West Ham are always well organised and play always more or less from out of the defensive organisation," Manchester United manager Louis Van Gaal said. "So they will be difficult to beat and they have proved that already because they have won more games away than at home and also against top teams."
West Ham have beaten Arsenal, Liverpool and Manchester City away this season, while also getting the better of Chelsea at home, but the impressive results have quelled a little bit, making this match against Manchester United all the more important for Slaven Bilic's men.
The London side are currently in eighth, six points behind Manchester United, with a win taking them closer to the top four, a position they haven't entirely ruled out, especially with the shift to the new stadium coming soon.
Bilic knows Manchester United, with the best defensive record in the league, will be a difficult team to break down, even if he came to the defence of Van Gaal's tactics, tactics which have been roundly criticised by pundits and fans alike.
"Well they are different than, let's say, the Ferguson era, when especially at home they were electric," Bilic said. "[But] they are winning. They're not conceding goals and somebody said they are boring, but they are always having the ball.
"They are not a team that is giving you the ball and defending, you can call that kind of football, sometimes, boring.
"They have the ball possession, they are controlling the game and trying to win every game. Especially at home, when the opponents are defending with numbers and are compact, you can't play very vertically. You need gaps and space behind or in between the lines of the opponent.
"That's hard to find. We can call it controlled football, we can call it patient football, but it is so far very effective because they are sitting good in the table."
Team news: Manchester United: The Dutch manager will be without his captain Wayne Rooney, who is ruled out of this game with an ankle injury. Marcos Rojo is also out with a shoulder problem, while Antonio Valencia, Phil Jones, Ander Herrera and Jesse Lingard also remain sidelined.
West Ham: The Hammers received a big blow this week with striker Diaffra Sakho ruled out for three months with a thigh problem, joining a couple of other big players on the treatment table in Dimitri Payet and Enner Valencia.
Where to Watch Live
Manchester United vs West Ham is scheduled for a 3 pm local time (8.30 pm IST, 10 am ET) start. Star Sports 4 will broadcast the match live in India, while the online live streaming options are on Starsports.com and Hotstar.
Watch the EPL game live in the US on NBC Sports Network, with the live stream option on NBC Sports Live Extra. Audience in Canada can watch Manchester United vs West Ham United live on Sportsnet and Sportsnet World Online.
There will be no live TV coverage for viewers in the UK, but live radio coverage will be on BBC Radio 5 Live. Australia viewers can watch the EPL game live on Fox Sports, while the online live streaming options are on Fox Sports On Demand and Foxtel Play.
In Singapore, the Manchester United vs West Ham game will be shown live on 102 Mio, while the action can be watched live in Malaysia on Fox Sports. Viewers in Thailand can flip their remotes to CTH, while audience in Indonesia can watch the EPL game live on Orange TV. PPTV and QQ Sports will show the EPL action live in China.
Audience in the Middle East and North Africa will be able to watch the EPL match live on Bein Sports Arabia, with the live streaming option on Bein Sports Connect.
