West Ham Match Preview: Watford At Home
West Ham take on Watford tomorrow in the second Premier League match at the Olympic Stadium. In what can only be described as a mixed bag of an opening few games, there have been a few bright sparks for hammers fans but more questions than answers for Bilic. Can we get back on track?
Our Opponents
Watford have not been too great either, picking up only one point from their openers. Many predicted they would struggle with their change of managers, and it hasn’t come together yet. A lot of new players have disrupted the defence, but it’s up front that’s surprised me.
So far their top scorer (only scorer) is Etienne Capoue, someone who is not renowned for picking up a goal. Both Deeney and Ighalo have not looked anything like they did last season. For me they expected to be as underestimated as they were last season, but no such luck. So far clubs have done well to silence the two man attack, and they have lost the midfield battle as a result.
They may eventually try a different approach, but do you drop the person who scored the goals which guaranteed safety in the first half of last season or the club captain? It’s a tricky situation.
West Ham View: Hammers Returning
One of the big holding points of the opening games have been the injuries we’ve had. When you have that many players out in the forward part of your team, it holds you back. But with Payet & Lanzini returning and Zaza expected to go straight in, it’s a new team.
The most frustrating thing so far has been going forward. Everything has broken down at the final steps, but our most creative players are back. Calleri is also in search of the perfect first goal for the team, I don’t think Zaza is that cute. In training he seems to be banging them in for fun, I think he could be a great striker for us.
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Feghouli is also back, but given his layoff and Antonio’s form I think he will start from the bench this week. He could force the English winger out if he performs when he gets the chance. He certainly looked the business during pre-season, and he could be amazing for us in the future. Trying to keep people happy is something we’ve never really struggled with before, and it is great to see that we will have proper decisions when it comes to picking the strongest XI in matches to come.
Prediction
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3-1
West Ham have their returning players and are a better side than Watford. They will have to be careful not to over extend themselves because Watford’s two top strikers could punish us if we do.