Troubled West Ham Host Queen’s Park Rangers | OneFootball

Kickoff: Sunday, Jan. 11 @ 8:30am ET/1:30pm GMT. Streaming on ESPN+

To help fight the January blues, the football calendar always delivers the drama of the FA Cup Third Round, and this year will be no exception.

As the Premier League (and Championship) teams are introduced to the competition, this stage will see two London derbies, including Queen’s Park Rangers traveling to the London Stadium to take on West Ham.

The pressure will be on the struggling hosts, now winless in their last 10 league matches and seven points adrift of Nottingham Forest, who sit in 17th. Both sides were knocked out at this point last season: West Ham by Aston Villa and QPR by Leicester City. Progression here could make or break the confidence of both teams.

All eyes on Nuno

The story of West Ham under Nuno Espírito Santo has not been a happy one. It’s been two months since they last won a match, beating newly promoted Burnley 3-2.

More recently, they threw away a lead to lose against Nottingham Forest and were thumped 3-0 by bottom-placed Wolves, handing the Midlands side their first win of the season. In total, it’s two wins from 16 games for Nuno since he replaced Graham Potter in East London.

The pressure is certainly on, and this week could spell the end of his tenure. With West Ham facing a Championship side over the weekend, before travelling to floundering Tottenham Hotspur the following Saturday, anything other than perfection would likely see him sacked. That would put the Hammers onto their third manager of the season, just halfway through the campaign.

Welcome Returns

Although El Hadji Malick Diouf remains at the Africa Cup of Nations, the good news of last week were the reappearances of Lucas Paqueta and Jean-Clair Tobido, who had been doubts after missing the match against Wolves. Nuno also confirmed that  Aaron Wan-Bissaka had returned from his AFCON campaign with the Democratic Republic of Congo and completed a “light training session” on Friday.

New signing Valetin Castellanos also looked bright in his Premier League debut, although despite his hard work up front he struggled to create many chances. Following reports that West Ham are now in talks to terminate the contract of striker Callum Wilson, the new arrival will need to find the mark quickly if his new club have any hope of turning a corner in 2026.

Can QPR show their mettle?

While West Ham come into this weekend’s fixture in a definite slump, QPR will be hoping to seize the momentum of last weekend’s win against Sheffield Wednesday to drive the second half of their campaign.

Under new head coach Julien Stephan, who replaced Marti Cifuentes last summer, the London side sit 11th in the Championship table. The race foir promotion play-off places is tight though, as only three points separate them and Watford in sixth.

The Frenchman recognises the challenge of facing Premier League opponents, even ones who are likely to be relegated, saying it would be his team’s biggest challenge of the year.

“We know the difference between the Championship and the Premier League, it’s a huge difference,” he said ahead of the match. “I don’t think we have to consider the position of the table for them.

“Just know that it will be the best team since the start of the season. Of course, the best one that we have to face and that’s why it’s a big, big, big, big challenge,” he added.

Injuries may make the task an even taller one for QPR, as they lost top scorer Rumarn Burnell, and midfielders Kwame Poku and Jonathon Varane during the 3-0 win against Sheffield Wednesday. The club has since confirmed that Burnell will be out until March.

Plenty on the line

While a win on the weekend won’t help ease West Ham’s relegation worries, progression to the next round of the competition for the first time in three years could take some of the pressure off Nuno.

As for QPR, a team very much still in the hunt for promotion, a win could show they can handle themselves against Premier League opponents after over a decade away from the top flight. There is no doubt both sides will be pushing from the get-go to take home a win.