Written by billythekid
After beating both Everton at home and Southampton away, can our team make it three league wins in a row? The last time our club did this was in our first season (2015-16) in the Premier League and that was on two occasions. First, after a run of eight games without a win, the Cherries then beat Chelsea away, Manchester United home and West Brom away all in December. The second occasion was in March when we beat Southampton home, Newcastle away and Swansea home. We have had four wins in a row, only that was the end of the 2017-18 and beginning of the 2018-19 seasons. This won’t be easy as our next game is against a West Ham (the Hammers/Irons) side unbeaten in their last five league games and not conceded a goal in the last three.
The Hammers are managed by Manuel Pellegrini and in the Summer his club signed five players. Striker Sebastien Haller from Eintracht Frankfurt, the Frenchman signs for a club-record £45 million. Spanish midfield player Pablo Fornals from Villarreal for £24 million. The Switzerland international striker Albian Ajeti from Basel for an undisclosed fee. Goalkeepers Roberto Jimenez Gago, the Spaniard signs on a free transfer and David Martin also on a free transfer from Millwall.
West Ham have had a good start to this season apart from the opening game of the season at the London Stadium where they were beaten by Manchester City 0-5. This was followed with two away games, a 1-1 draw against Brighton and a 1-3 win over Watford. Then back home they beat Norwich City 2-0. West Ham then were on their travels again, this time to play Aston Villa, which finished in a 0-0 draw. Their most recent game was on Sunday at home in the Sky televised win against Manchester United by 2-0. This wasn’t a particularly good game to watch, against a poor out of sorts Manchester United side. West Ham are in 5th position in the table with 11 points, 1 point and place above AFCB.
AFCB have a reasonably good record at home against West Ham. Last season with two second-half goals from Callum Wilson and Josh King we took all 3 points. In our home league games against West Ham, AFCB have W 2, D 2, L 1. In all competitions, AFCB have W 4, D 4, L 5.
AFCB Team News
After the disappointing League Cup exit against Burton Albion, Eddie will probably start against West Ham with more or less the team that started against Saints.
AFCB Player To Watch
Callum Wilson after his first goal of the season against Leicester has scored 2 against Everton and 1 against Saints and he does like scoring and playing against West Ham.
West Ham Team News
West Ham fielded a much-changed side from the team that beat Manchester United in the league, in their 4-0 defeat away against Oxford United in the League Cup. On the injury front, Manuel Lanzini is out with a foot injury picked up while playing for Argentina. Winston Reid is still recovering from his knee injury. Michail Antonio is recovering from surgery for a hamstring injury. The latest injury concern is Ryan Fredericks who was substituted during the Manchester United game with a muscular injury, he will be assessed ahead of the match on Saturday. So expect the Hammers side to be similar to the team from Sunday.
West Ham Player To Watch
Sébastien Haller will be one player to watch, but Andriy Yarmolenko impressed me with his performance against Manchester United, always looking dangerous and for spaces to move into, capped it with a well-taken goal. The Hammers captain and local boy Marc Noble worked hard in midfield.
We had him twice last season, in the away win at West Ham and the away defeat against Manchester City.
Anyoldiron wrote…
Both teams should have their tails between their legs after midweek performances and ought to be buzzing around all over the pitch from the off. I’ll take a draw if I’m honest as AFCB seem to have the voodoo on us as a team. Haler is one to watch as is Anderson on his day. We will struggle with your front two though but we do have pace upfront so I’m going for a 2-2 draw. – Join the conversation, click here.
