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West Ham confident of Southampton victory

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West Ham fanAfter an opening day defeat at home to Tottenham Hotspur and an impressive victory at Selhurst Park last weekend, the Hammers’ third league test this season comes in the form of Ronald Koeman’s Southampton. It’s fair to say that following the departure of manager Mauricio Pochettino, as well as several of the club’s top players, Southampton are not as strong as they were last season and the Hammers should certainly be targeting three points this weekend. Southampton’s 2-1 defeat to Liverpool on the opening day alongside a 0-0 draw at home with West Brom will mean they will not go into the game on Saturday with the upmost confidence, however the quality that still exists in Saints’ side must not be underestimated.

In terms of how the Hammers will line-up, I would like, and expect to see a more or less unchanged starting eleven from the side who won at Selhurst Park last weekend. With Kevin Nolan sidelined with injury for at least the next couple of weeks, Mauro Zarate will hopefully be given another chance to show his worth after an impressive display and superb goal against Crystal Palace. In defence, James Collins’ hamstring injury will rule him out, meaning a central pairing of Winston Reid and James Tomkins the most obvious, and in all honesty, favourable option. Aaron Cresswell will make his third league appearance for the club and hopefully continue and build on his already impressive displays, thus far.

In midfield, the ever-consistent Mark Noble and new signing Cheikhou Kouyate will more than likely occupy the holding midfield positions, allowing Argentine Mauro Zarate to express himself, playing just off the striker. Ricardo Vaz Te and Stewart Downing will more than likely play on the left and right wing, respectively, although I would like to see £12million man Enner Valencia given a start out wide. With new signing Diafra Sakho reportedly picking up a knock to his back in the League Cup against Sheffield United this week, Carlton Cole will more than likely take up the lone striker role after opening his account for the season, last weekend. As much as I would like to see the quality of Ravel Morrison starting on Saturday, I do not feel he is in the right frame of mind nor possesses the match fitness to play regular first team, Premier League football at the minute – an appearance from the substitutes bench would be good to see, however.

Last weekend’s performance and result against Crystal Palace gives us Hammers reason for optimism – the way the side knocked the ball about at times was very pleasing on the eye, and the goals we scored were the type we have been after for ages. This Saturday’s game will be my last home game before going off to university for three years, so I would like to think that Sam Allardyce will tell the players to go out and play in the exact same fashion as last weekend because it’s become clear on a number of occasions that we do in fact have the players to play on the floor, and look a much better side when we do.

Prediction:

I don’t usually say this, but I have to say I am confident of leaving the Boleyn Ground with three points this weekend. Southampton’s relatively poor start to the season, amongst uncertainty and departures of the likes of Adam Lallana, Rickie Lambert and Dejan Lovren means that if we ever had a chance of beating the Saints, now is the time. Despite this, we all know what the Hammers are like – failure to take our chances when they present themselves have cost us so many times in the past, and I would not bet against it this weekend.

My prediction – West Ham 2-1 Southampton

Let me know what you think – who would you like to see start the game this weekend, and how do you think we will get on against Southampton?

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5 comments

  • notanyoldiron says:

    Callum, for all the reasons you state, I’m quietly confident. I won’t predict a win because it will be the kiss of death. After the performance against Palace I can’t see how we can change the line up. I expect a tricky game.

  • Canchaz says:

    I can’t see the thinking behind Valencia out wide. I would have thought. It was a given that he and Cole would be our two main strikers, with one or the other on the bench

  • Johnny Mac says:

    In the early stages of yesterday’s match, Southampton was given a reprieve. West Ham could have & should have been 2 – 0 up when Mark Noble scored his goal. If not for a really flukey save by Forster from Ricardo Vaz Te’s goal bound shot they’d have been a goal up. I mean in 90% of situations like that where the ball just clipped the inside of Forster’s heel and then rolled agonizing along the goal line and curled around the outside of the opposite post, that would have been a goal. I mean half an inch further away from Forster’s foot, maybe less & that ball would have been in, and with Mark scoring, the momentum would have been up & West ham would have gone into the break 2 – 0 up, but no, once again, West Ham let their opponents off the hook and completely faded away & for the last 50 minutes of the match, Southampton completely dominated. I must say that the referee didn’t help one bit either, where he let Southampton get away with far too many heavy tackles & played the advantage for West Ham too much without stopping play and awarding free kicks, when clearly there was no advantage to be gained. And that booking of Joey O’Brien where Joey won the ball and caught the Saints player on the follow through with Joey collecting a yellow card, was in my opinion a terrible decision and in fact yesterday was a terrible day for a referee who was just not up to the occasion to officiate that match, but overall that was a really poor West Ham performance. One of the poorest I have seen in a long time, and eventually, Southampton were very worthy winners, and West Ham were very lucky they didn’t lose by more. I mean incredibly, after all of the re-strengthening that West Ham have gone through in the summer, and with all of the new signings, there was, and still is a problem with a lack of strike force. West Ham was just not up to the commitment that Southampton put in. Sorry Sam that was a really poor performance from your team and you got your game plan totally wrong.

  • paraiso says:

    I’m not sure the strike force is all the problem, we have no build up play, it’s the quality of the so called chances we create that is the problem, we don’t create clear cut chances ,We do not have a game plan, in fact I am not sure we train together !!

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