As part of a new weekly feature, Forever West Ham will look ahead to upcoming matches, identifying key statistical battles between players to see who has the potential to get the upper hand in the fixture in question.
This week West Ham face an away trip to Premier league strugglers Sunderland. The Hammers will feel that a win is achievable due to their impeccable performances on the road so far this season and the fact that Sunderland have not started this season at all well.
Despite this, there are no easy games in the Premier League and with rumours of Dick Advocaat changing his formation for this encounter; it could prove difficult for the Hammers to pick up a result.
The key battle identified in this game is between Cheikou Kouyate and Yann M’Vila. Despite the Black Cats’ position in the table, M’Vila has been a solid performer for Sunderland so far.
Kouyate has been one of West Ham’s best players this season and if he can get the upper hand in the midfield, West Ham always have a chance of dominating the game.
Looking at the stats, it is clear to see that both players have been in good form so far this season. They both feature in the top 20 of midfield tacklers this season whilst Cheikou Kouayte is the second-highest scoring midfielder in the Premier League at the moment, two goals behind attacking Leicester winger Riyad Mahrez.
Both players will look to complete similar jobs for their teams but their playing styles are very different. Yann M’Vila likes to add as a deep-lying playmaker whilst Kouayte’s all action presence makes him very difficult to track and contain.
Kouayte is also a very strong aerial presence, winning 11 aerial duels so far this season, the sixth highest total out of all Premier League midfielders.
If the Hammers are allowed to play their counter-attacking game, it will suit Kouayte’s style of play. However, if Sunderland crowd the midfield like Norwich did last weekend, M’Vila will have more of an influence on the game.
It could be a tight match-up between these two but given the Hammers’ recent form away from home, Kouayte could be set to shine once again for Slaven Bilic’s side.
Imo the key to Saturday’s game will be how we react to the Mackenzie packing the midfield and whether or not we hit the ground running or not.
Sunderland are not going to go on all out attack, there is too much at stake. If they did that would expose them to our devastating counterattack game and a heavy defeat would have far reaching consequences for the club.
So I believe they will therefore have to keep it tight and rely on set pieces and breakaways.
It will be up to us to counter this by playing at pace and create space behind for our strike force to exploit.
This is going to be a hard game but I’m hoping that our extra class wil tell 2-0 Irons! IFBB!