Written by @DeportivoHammer

What can be said about last weeks game that hasn´t already been said.  We were not very good and after the 3rd goal went in it seemed the players were ready to call it a day and go home.  I don´t think the starting 11 could have been much different and was probably the strongest side Slaven could have picked.  But just not good enough on the day.

On to another away day and this time down on the South coast where we play a Southampton team who are struggling to find the net at the moment so Lets hope that continues and we come away with the win.

Last week Southampton played out a draw against Swansea City and while being the better team could not find the net against the team from Wales.  They had plenty of shots in the game but only a couple managed to be on target.

Southampton by all means go into the game clean from injuries with Ryan Bertrand shacking off a small knock.  Van Dijk will probably not feature due to trying to force his move to Liverpool for a ridiculous fee.  New signing from Juventus Mario Lemina could get his first start for the Saints.

Some good news for the Hammers is that Mikail Antonio has returned to the squad and probably have to make do with a place on the bench.  Lanzini and Kouyate could all feature in the next week or two.  The sooner Lanzini gets back to action the better as i feel he is the player we are missing most.

Predicted Teams :

Southampton : Forster, Soares, Stephens, Yoshida, Bertrand, Romeu, Davis, Ward-Prowse, Tadic, Redmond and Gabbiadini.

West Ham United, Hart, Zabaleta, Reid, Fonte, Cresswell, Noble, Obiang Rice, Arnautovic, Ayew and Hernandez

I feel like Slaven has to try something at the moment so I have brought in Rice for his full debut in place of Fernandes.  I think he really made an impact when he came on at Old Trafford and will certainly not be fazed by playing at Southampton.  I think Fonte will come in as he adds a bit more of an aerial threat than Ogbonna plus will be well up for a game against his old team. Cresswell I´ve put in because I think he defends a lot better than Masuaku.    I certainly do not think they will beat us like they did at the London stadium last year and we will start to look like the top team I feel we are capable of being. So I have gone for us to win a scrappy game 1-0.

It´s very important we pick up some points sooner rather than later as we don´t want to be left facing an uphill battle for the rest of the season. If we can get a couple of wins under our belt now the stadium will be rocking by the time we play our first home game this year.