10th November 2010
West Ham squandered a two-goal lead against Birmingham last weekend and thus remained rock bottom, so this is clearly a must-win game for the Hammers. West Brom slipped to 10th after second successive defeat and the Baggies hope to end the poor run by taking at least one point from Upton Park.
After narrowly escaping relegation last season, West Ham were expected to reinforce the squad over the summer so as to avoid the same thing happening again, and indeed the Hammers signed quite a few new players. Nonetheless, the injury curse struck again and prevented Avram Grant’s side from showing all their potential in the opening rounds, while the new signings obviously needed some time to gel. As a result, West Ham had a dismal start to their Premiership campaign, picking up just 7 points from 11 games, although the Hammers have started to improve lately. The Carling Cup victory over Stoke served as a big confidence boost with the Hammers playing really well against both Arsenal and Birmingham, so all that’s left is to build on that performances and beat West Brom. Boss Avram Grant will not be able to count on Mark Noble despite the player resuming light training after having his appendix removed, whereas Ben Haim, Collison, Hines and Hitzlsperger remain sidelined.
The buzz created upon West Brom’s return to the Premiership had a really positive effect on the team with the Baggies enjoying their best ever start to a Premier League season, but now when the excitement has subsided West Brom will have to show what they are really made of. Team’s form is clearly on the downtrend, as witnessed by back to back defeats to Blackpool and Manchester City, and since this is the first time this season the Baggies lost two games in a row, we really don’t know how the players will react. They are obviously low on confidence, which could be a problem when facing their fellow strugglers, while Roberto Di Matteo faces some selection problems as well. Youssouf Mulumbu and Gonzalo Jara are banned, while Jonas Olsson is out with injury. James Morrison and Steven Reid should be fit to play, but Nickey Shorey and Roman Bednar remain injury doubts.
Conclusion
West Ham have been playing really well lately even though the results are not showing that, with their performances against Arsenal and Birmingham set to serve as a major confidence boost. West Brom, on the other hand, are showing signs of slowing down and after losing their last two games, I believe the trend is likely to continue for the Baggies.
Verdict: Home win West Ham (1)
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