West Ham are still sitting pretty on top of the Premier League in December, and we owe a lot of the success of the team to our really rather skillful goalscorers. It’s been great to have a number of players netting this season for the Hammers, and with a fully fit squad available, we haven’t yet cemented who our first choice strikers will be. Enner Valencia, Diafra Sakho, and Andy Carroll are all contributing strongly to West Ham’s high flying season – but no matter how much Allardyce may have changed his tune this year, he’ll put three strikers up front for West Ham over his dead body. So given the fine form of Stewart Downing and Diafra Sakho, and the return of giant Andy Carroll, should Enner Valencia be worried about retaining his starting place?
As a football club sitting in the top four of the league, it’s not exactly an unhealthy dilemma to have.
To his credit, Valencia has done very little wrong this season. He’s scored three goals and set up three assists in his thirteen league appearances – and it’s worth mentioning that of those thirteen appearances, only three were for a full 90 minutes. He’s great at running the ball forward, and putting pressure on the opposition. He’s been a tremendous signing for the Hammers, and is one of our strongest assets this season.
The only problem for Enner is that our other assets have been pretty strong too. In midfield, Stewart Downing is having the best season of his career. He’s scored three goals and has six assists to his name. Andy Carroll is finally back from injury, and in the six games he’s played in (four appearances of which were for 90 minutes) he’s already contributed two goals and two assists. Diafra Sakho has been even more impressive, scoring a whopping six goals and two assists in just ten games (and of those ten games, six were for 90 minutes.) It’s brilliant news for West Ham United, but ever so slightly less so for Valencia. On paper, Valencia has the least goals per minutes of the three – which gives a decent argument for Carroll and Sakho to be the chosen ones up front for West Ham.
Luckily for Valencia, an opportunity to stake a permanent claim on that starting position is just over the horizon. Carroll’s return and Sakho’s form will certainly provide healthy competition for places, but given that we are set to temporarily lose Diafra Sakho, Alex Song, and Cheikhou Kouyate during the African Cup of Nations, there is a strong likelihood that the strike partnership we’ll see in early 2015 will be that of Andy Carroll and Enner Valencia.
It will be an interesting partnership, as both are rather tough and aggressive players. We will certainly be missing the goal-scoring abilities of Diafra Sakho, but I think a team with Valencia and Carroll up front brings a lot of goal opportunities for the Hammers, and gives Valencia a chance to prove himself ‘undroppable’ in Sakho’s absence – and I, for one, can’t wait to see him rise to the challenge.
Who would you prefer up front for West Ham with a fully fit team? Would you stick with Sakho and Valencia, or has Carroll earned a chance to be on the pitch? Let us know your thoughts below!
Valencia is a brilliant player,id start enner up front with sakho v Leicester and bring Carroll on in the second half to cause more carnage,after Valencia and sakho have run them ragged.Carroll is a very good striker when fit but cant take a starting place for granted.Carroll and sakho blanked last week so Valencia should come back in as hes been great for us this season.Rotate our fowards
One more thing…COYI!!!
If any other manager was in charge Valencia,s place would not be in doubt because he would start before Nolan and his only threat would be Zarate who the manager is not a fan of either,we are going to need both of these in January because of the African cup and we need to play them now,Nolan can cover Poyet and Noble when Song and Kouyte are off not now ,
For me it would be Carroll on the bench
And I we would bring him on for Nolan.