Welcome back Andy Carroll

Article by e-West Ham Correspondent Martin Sancto

Follow e-West Ham on Twitter!

On the 1st February I, like thousands of West Ham fans, got ready to watch West Ham take on Swansea City at the Boleyn ground, a game that would see Andy Carroll start a 2nd Premier League game since returning from injury, things were looking up. Andy Carroll just a week previous helped his side get a 0-0 result at Stamford Bridge and upset the Portuguese “special one” with his continuous knock downs and superior holding up of the ball to frustrate the blues.

So West Ham fans were excited, no one could see any reason why our fortunes could not change in a home battle against Swansea City. And they would be right, Andy Carroll was continuing with his fine form from the Chelsea game, winning every ball that came his way along with 2 assists to help his old mate Kevin Nolan score twice before half time. We go in at half time the leaders and still holding on to a clean sheet and all West Ham fans with big grins on their faces from ear to ear.

After the break there was very little change, Swansea applying some pressure that didn’t seem to bother our defence too much. Then on the stroke of the 58th minute all West Ham fans were up in arms, Andy Carroll was shown a straight red card for violent conduct against Chico Flores.

So West Ham held on, they won the game 2-0 but that victory could not help us lift our heads even though we won, all West Ham fans including myself had already written off our chances of picking up any more points for the next 3 matches knowing that Andy would be banned.

Well weren’t we all wrong! We were convincing winners of all 3 games that Andy was missing. The last of the 3 match ban for big Andy Carroll came against Southampton on the 22nd February where we tallied up a 3-1 win.

Will this run of form give Sam Alladyce a selection headache I wonder, will Andy go straight into the starting line-up away to Everton on Saturday? Well I think I speak for most West Ham fans when I say I really hope so, yes we have shown great form, yes we have the biggest win ratio from all of February’s games compared to any other Premier League team, but it is a must that we take our prize possessions to this next very difficult game at Everton.

It is no secret that we don’t have the best win record against Everton at Goodison Park, in fact the last win for West Ham at Goodison Park was on the 14th December 2005 when we were 1-2 winners. Since that date we have played 6 times at Goodison, losing 3 and drawing 3, so if we were to change our fortunes and take maximum points I could only see that happening with the towering Andy Carroll on the front line.

So, as much as we have done extremely well without the Geordie for the last 3 matches, I am very happy to see him back and travelling with the rest of the squad to take part in the game against Everton and help us get a result.

© e-Football 2014 All rights reserved no part of this document or this website may be reproduced without consent of e-Football