Preview & Prediction: West Ham vs Norwich

West Ham are the early season surprise package of the Premier League, and sit comfortably in third place after wins at Arsenal, Liverpool and Manchester City.

Slaven Bilic is already a popular figure in East London and if he can improve the Hammers’ home form, then this could be a terrific season in their last campaign at Upton Park.

The Croatian will hope that the extra time defeat to Leicester City on Tuesday will not have harmed his players’ fitness coming into Saturday as they aim to win their fifth game in seven.

Andy Carroll played over an hour during the Capital Cup tie but will probably be benched for the start of this one. Winston Reid will continue at centre-back following his man of the match display in the 2-1 win at Manchester City with Diafro Sakho likely to lead the line. Angelo Ogbonna, Alex Song and Enner Valencia are all out.

Norwich City have quietly gone about their business on their return to the Premier League and have looked great value for their eight points. Manager Alex Neil has a predominantly British team who have so far proved they have what it takes to make the step up with the big boys. After this game Norwich entertain Leicester, Newcastle and West Brom, and six points will be the least Neil is aiming for from these games.

The Canaries have no wins from their last 13 trips to London and only one win against West Ham in nine attempts, and Wes Hoolahan will most likely return to the side to try and put a stop to those stats. Meanwhile, Alex Tettey will return from suspension, Matt Jarvis is ineligible to play as it’s against his parent side, and Youssouf Mulumbu and Gary Hooper are both out injured.

League Position: West Ham – 3rd, 12pts; Norwich – 11th, 8pts
Last Meeting: West Ham 2-0 Norwich, February 2014
Form: West Ham – WLLWWW; Norwich – LWDLWD
Key Men: West Ham – Diafro Sakho; Norwich – Wes Hoolahan

Shoot Says: West Ham 2-1 Norwich