Phil Thompson revealed he really likes West Ham quartet Manuel Lanzini, Andriy Yarmolenko, Felipe Anderson and Sebastien Haller.
The former Liverpool player even compared the Hammers quartet to when the Reds had Mohamed Salah, Sadio Mane, Roberto Firmino and Philippe Coutinho to call upon.
Thompson raved about these four Hammers players after dubbing Manuel Pellegrini’s side the biggest surprise package of the Premier League season so far.
“I really like the forward line if they can keep them fit,” Thompson told Sporting Life.
“Sebastien Haller, Felipe Anderson and Andriy Yarmolenko are all threatening, and then you have to take into account Manuel Lanzini.
“It takes you back to Mohamed Salah, Sadio Mane, Roberto Firmino and Philippe Coutinho – West Ham have Lanzini as their fourth, just like Liverpool did.”
OPINION
Seeing as Liverpool currently lead the way in the Premier League due to three of the players Thompson mentioned, it’s huge praise for him to claim the Hammers have players who remind him of the Reds. This is especially the case when you consider Thompson has a fondness, and arguably is even a little bit bias to Jurgen Klopp’s side at times, so he wouldn’t compare anyone to some of the club’s biggest stars if he wasn’t convinced. However, you can see why he has made the comparison as the Hammers’ front line looks formidable just like the Reds’ options have in recent seasons. Yarmolenko and Haller have managed seven goals between them, as per BBC Sport, which is more than the whole Newcastle United team have managed across all competitions (Source: BBC Sport), and it’s not like no other Hammers player hasn’t contributed goals. Thompson also acknowledges the importance of having a creative attacking midfield like Lanzini to call upon as hypothetically the Argentinian will be able to feed chances for his teammates to fire home. Lanzini may have only registered one assist in his first seven league outings so far, but when you consider he has averaged 2.4 key passes per game, it’s only a matter of time before his efforts are rewarded (Source: WhoScored).
