Sky Sports pundit Paul Merson has predicted that West Ham United will share the spoils when they take on Southampton at St Mary’s this Thursday.
The Hammers come into this game on the back of a 2-0 defeat to Watford at the weekend, while Southampton come into this match high on confidence after two consecutive victories in the last couple of weeks.
Merson has predicted a 2-2 draw between the two sides, despite the fact that the Irons ended their winning streak on Saturday.
“This should be a good game. West Ham were flying along before losing to Watford, while Southampton are showing you when you run around and work hard, like Man Utd did, they all have the talent and it is amazing what happens.,” he told Sky Sports.
“They now have a bit of confidence and are all working hard but, despite losing on Saturday, West Ham are also a decent team, so I am going to go for 2-2 here.”
OPINION
West Ham should have done a lot better than they did against Watford at the weekend, so they will no doubt be hoping to fix things with a win over Southampton on Thursday. However, under their new manager, the Saints look a new team and are playing some rather good football. West Ham need be rather wary of this, as their opponents have the ability to punish them just like the Hornets did. Yes, Manuel Pellegrini’s team were still without Marko Arnautovic and Lucas Perez – two absences which really showed – but that was no excuse for playing in the way that they did on Saturday. They have managed to cope without these players before, so they are more than capable of doing it again – starting with a win on Thursday. However, a draw seems the most probable result between the two sides, so it is hard not to agree with Merson here.
