DeportivoHammer

03/02/2018

Well just when you thought a transfer window couldn’t get worse, out came the Tony Henry story who was first suspended and has now been fired by West Ham.  While I totally agree with what the club has done in dealing with the situation, the fact that it got this far is very embarrassing for the club and every West Ham fan.  But back to the Transfer Window.  Sakho has left the club which I am quite pleased about I thought he was a very good player for the club but I grew tired of him always being injured and causing trouble within the club.  I can also see why we have let Ayew go as he was no more than a squad player earning a lot of money while not really contributing enough to the team.  But what I don’t really understand is why we did not get at least 2 more players in.  We were already short of numbers before we let them go.  But on to today.

We travel down to Brighton on the South coast.  like most of the teams they are among the 10 or 11 teams who are scrambling for points trying to keep out of the bottom 3.  They are currently in 15th place and just 1 point from the relegation zone along with 4 other teams and 3 points from the Hammers.  On current form I can not see them managing to survive they have managed just 3 points from their last 6 games.  Scoring goals has been their main problem and they are the joint lowest scorers this year.

The mighty Hammers are still undefeated in the League this year but there have been a few too many draws and not enough wins for me.  The Palace game midweek showed just how much depth we are lacking as I felt the introduction of some proven quality in the last 20 mins could have earned us 2 more points.  4 draws in our last 6 while not great but it has kept us ahead of the pack at the bottom and given us some momentum for the next game.  We are in 12th place and with a win could get into the top 10.

Team news for Brighton is that recent signing Ulloa could return to the team but Locadia, Skalak, and Sidwell will miss the game but Captain Bruno returns after a few games out injured.

Hopefully better news for the Hammers as I’m sure it couldn’t get much worse than against Palace, Antonio seems to have made peace with Moyes after a bit of bad time keeping.  Reid and Fonte return to the squad but might only feature from the bench.  Masuaku obviously is missing as is Lanzini, Arnoutovic, Obiang and of course Carroll.

Predicted Line ups :

Brighton and Hove Albian : Ryan, Bong, Dunk, Duffy, Schelotto, March, Stephens, Propper, Izquirdo, Gross, Murry.

West Ham United : Adrian, Zabaleta, Collins, Ogbonna, Cresswell, Noble, Rice, Kouyate, Byram, Joao Mario, Hernandez.

Going form the press conference after the game I think Moyes was quite pleased with how we battled for a point against Palace and will keep faith in the same team that battled well for the point.  I also think that Mario will be a very good signing for West Ham and hopefully do well enough to make the signing permanent in the summer.  We must also not forget about the player we did sign on Deadline day. Big welcome to Jordan Hugill who is in todays squad and could make his debut from the bench today.  I wish the lad well and hopefully he can have the same success as 2 of our previous lower league purchases in recent years, Cresswell and Antonio.  I will go for a 2-0 win with both new boys getting a goal each Joao Mario and Hugill.  Why not.