For the second week running the newly promoted West Ham will get the weekend off to a start featuring in Saturday's early kick off as they host fellow London rivals Fulham. Despite both teams winning their opening league fixtures, both lost last time out and will be looking to get back on the winning path at the others expense.
West Ham's opening day victory over Aston Villa seems to have flattered to deceive with Villa taking a 3-1 drubbing last weekend to Everton whilst the Hammers were rolled over by Michael Laudrup's exceptional Swansea team. Despite the loss to Swansea however West Ham did show some promise, especially from set pieces where they came close a number of times and they do appear to have goals in them.
Having won 2-0 in a mid-week League Cup match (against Crewe) West Ham may go into this match with some momentum however it appears one of those goal scorers, Nicky Maynard, is on his way out (expected to go to Cardiff). Though hopefully, regardless of whether Maynard moves or not West Ham will have rebuilt some of their confidence or Big Sam may find his players really doubting themselves, especially in front of goal.
With Matt Jarvis having made his Premier League debut for the Hammers and looking excellent it does appear that West Ham will create chances, but the bigger question is have they got someone to finish the chances? It seems as though this is biggest issue with the Hammers and although they scored freely in the Championship last year (81 goals, 2nd most) with Ricardo Vaz Te and Carlton Cole they do appear to be struggling this season. Vaz Te, an excellent Championship player, has struggled to score in the Premier League in the past and Cole's Premier League record is around 1 goal in every 5 appearances.
Despite having a number of Premier League level players they really do lack an out and out Premier League goalscorer, something that could really comeback to haunt them. It's the same problem that saw West Ham relegated 2 years ago when they scored a mere 43 Premier League goals (the 3rd worst) with their top League scorer being Demba Ba with just 7 goals. In fact West Ham's attack was so toothless that only 4 players scored 5 or more goals in their 38 League games.
Whilst West Ham are struggling for goals Fulham on the other hand are one of the Premier League's highest scoring teams with 7 goals from their 2 games far. They opened their league season with an excellent 5-0 over Norwich and were unlucky not to steal a point in their 3-2 loss to Manchester United weekend. Whilst they did lose in midweek (1-0 to Sheffield Wednesday) in the League Cup Martin Jol's intention will be for a successful Premier League campaign, not a League Cup one.
Like West Ham it doesn't appear that Fulham are done with the transfer market and whilst they have recently lost Mousa Dembele (selling him to Tottenham) it appears as if Bulgarian striker Dimitar Berbatov is on his way to raven Cottage. Rumours are also circulating that Keiran Richardson could also join Fulham before the transfer window closes in just over a day. If Jol can secure both of these signings than it will be a major coup for the Dutchman.
Despite selling Dembele (who gave Manchester United a headache last weekend) Fulham have a really promising team. Not only is Damien Duff looking close to his best but Mladen Petric looks deadly in front of goal and Alexander Kačaniklić looks like a very shrewd signing. Fulham could be a handful for anyone in the Premier League.
Going into this match both teams will be wanting to show they are a good team though out of the two only Fulham appear to be a good team, I'll be expecting an away win.
Kick-Off: 12:45
Prediction: 0-2
Expected Line Ups:
West Ham-
Jääskeläinen, Demel, Reid, Collins, McCartney, Diamé, Noble, Nolan, Vaz Te, Taylor, Cole (4-3-3)
Fulham-
Schwarzer, Hangeland, Hughes, Kelly, Briggs, Duff, Diarra, Kacaniklic, Sidwell, Petric, Ruiz (4-4-2)
Notes:The summer signings haven't yet finished for either team and it looks likely that Andy Carroll will be loaned to West Ham for the season whilst Dimitar Berbatov is set to sign for Fulham (note this preview is being written on Thursday) however it's unlikely either will be registered in time to play.
West Ham have only lost 2 of their last 23 competitive fixtures (one of those being their 3-0 loss to Swansea)
Fulham have only beaten West Ham once at Upton Park in the Premier League
Players to watch out for-
West Ham:
Kevin Nolan-The
West Ham Captain is their key player and most of what they do goes
through him. Nolan is the driving force behind West Ham so the Fulham
defense and Midfield will look to keep Nolan from exerting his force on
the game. Whilst he's the West Ham Midfield general he's also a threat
in front of goal and acts not only as a poacher but also as a solid
threat in the air meaning that he will need to be marked well at set
pieces.
Ricardo Vaz Te-The Portuguese forward was one of,
if not the, Player of the Season for West Ham after signing from
Barnsley mid way through the season. His goal record for the club is
tremendous and his work rate is through the roof, he will always pose a
threat to defenses and he will be looking to open his scoring sooner
rather than later for the season.
Fulham:
Mladen Petric-The new Striker Mladen Petric has looked a star since signing for Fulham and with 2 goals already this he looks like an excellent threat. He gave the Manchester United defense a head ache at times last time out and was unlucky not to have scored past David De Gea. Expect the West Ham defense to be given a real nightmare against him.
Damien Duff-The Irish Winger retired from international football at the start of the new season though has proven that there is still life in the old dog with a goal in both Premier League games that he has played in so far, giving him the same return as he had in the entire of last season. Duff will give the Hammers fits if he gets the ball.
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