12/01/2018
Deportivo Hammer
The dust has settled now after a very busy Xmas and New Year schedule for most teams and we have had a week to prepare for the trip up to Huddersfield and providing we don’t play like we did last time out we should have a good chance of taking all 3 points back with us to East London. I will try not to go on about the cup game as the best I can say, is at least we are still in it.
Huddersfield are having a great time in their first season up in the Premier League, currently up in 11th position of the league and a clear 4 points above the relegation zone which I would love West Ham to be in. Although they have not been so great recently they also have not been that bad either. They have won just the once in their last 6 games but have managed to draw 3 of them. So I would presume any chances we create we will have to make sure we take. Huddersfield have also been very good at home this year.
Just the 2 points keep The Hammers above the drop zone as it stands. But our form at the moment is considerably better than the clubs around us. Our only defeat in the last 6 games was the Newcastle one and while it’s not good to lose at home our recent away record has been decent. It was actually West Ham who gave Huddersfield their first defeat earlier in the season so hopefully they can give us our first double as well.
Wagner has already been busy in the transfer window Alex Pritchard has made a loan move permanent and Terence Kongolo will be hoping to make his debut. But Colin Quaner, Chris Lowe and Martin Cranie will miss out through injury.
Moyes for now, has not been busy in the transfer market yet but I expect he is waiting for players to become available. Some good news regarding West Ham, Arnautovic, Byram and Collins have returned from their recent injuries along with Cresswell. But of course we still have some injuries in Reid, out for 2-3 weeks and maybe more seriously Antonio who we are not quite sure on the extent of his injury at the moment. Andy Carroll will also miss the game with an ankle injury and starters from the FA Cup game, Declan Rice, Josh Cullen and Reece Burke will join Hernandez, Ayew and Joe Hart back on the bench today. The Sakho situation at the moment is that he is still a West Ham player for now but isn’t involved in the matchday squad.
Predicted Line ups-
Huddersfield – Lossl, Smith Jorgensen, Schindler, Kongolo, Mooy, Hogg, Ince, Pritchard, Van La Parra, Depoitre.
West Ham United – Adrian, Zabaleta, Collins, Ogbonna, Cresswell, Masuaku, Obiang, Noble, Kouyate, Lanzini, Arnautovic.
I don’t expect any surprises from Moyes tomorrow and I think we will pack the midfield and hope that we can hit them on the break. It will be a typical away game where again I think Moyes will be happy with a clean sheet and if we manage to get a goal then even better. I do think we will win as I think we have that extra bit of quality in Lanzini and Arnautovic to swing the game in our favour and I hope we will get the result needed to really get us to climb up the table. I think, or maybe hope is a better word that we will win the game by just the one goal and everyone will go home happy.
