Erik ten Hag confirms why Willy Kambwala starts for Man Utd vs West Ham

Erik ten Hag is starting Willy Kambwala alongside Jonny Evans as Manchester United play West Ham in the Premier League at the London Stadium.

Manchester United currently sit seventh in the Premier League table, just one point ahead of their opponents West Ham, and six points behind Manchester City in fourth.

After being knocked out of the Champions League and all European competition earlier this month, the only way for Ten Hag’s club to regain their post in Europe’s elite competition next season is to finish in the Premier League 2023/24 top four.

Read More: Manchester United confirm Raphaël Varane absence reason against West Ham

They will attempt to collect all three points against West Ham, with Erik ten Hag opting to start Willy Kambwala alongside Jonny Evans, with Raphaël Varane ill.

“He’s calm, he’s made a good impression in training, but of course, he’s inexperienced, and this is a big moment for him,” Ten Hag told TNT Sports on Kambwala ahead of the game. “He’s athletic, calm on the ball and now he has his opportunity.”

He continued: “We will build on the performance at Liverpool, and we want to be better on the ball. I think we had opportunities [against Liverpool], we had the spaces, but we didn’t always explore the spaces.

“This is a different game, they aren’t as offensive as Liverpool, but we still have to do better on the ball. We had the two chances of the game against Liverpool, and in top football, you don’t create ten chances.

“They didn’t create one chance from open play, and I think all the teams today are well organised. We need to start with better build-up, especially in our game in possession, with triangles, we can do better.

“We all are distracted by Christmas, with family, you want to see them, celebrate, but we have to do our job. We can change the story of the season [in the festive period] and this is an opportunity to do that.”