West Ham Vs Southampton- e-West Ham match preview

Article by Brandon Freeman

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Barclays Premier League- Upton Park, Saturday 30th August 2014, K.O 15.00

Current Form

West Ham come into this weekend’s game off the back of a penalty shoot-out defeat against Sheffield United in the Capital One Cup, having taken the lead through Diafra Sakho with his first goal for the club before Winston Reid scored an own-goal as the game finished 1-1. Sam Allardyce will be buoyed however by West Ham’s performance in their last Premier League outing against Crystal Palace; West Ham took the lead through a stunning Mauro Zarate volley before Stewart Downing’s curling effort from outside the box found the back of the net. Palace did however get a goal back through former hammers lonee Marouane Chamakh before Carlton Cole scored the hammers third goal as the match ended 3-1. Southampton meanwhile head to Upton Park off the back of a goalless draw with West Brom at St Mary’s. Southampton did however put in an impressive performance in their last away outing losing narrowly 2-1 against last seasons Premier League runners-up Liverpool.

Previous Meetings

West Ham boast an impressive record against Southampton in the Premier League having lost only two of their last eleven Premier League games against the to the Saints and are unbeaten in their last five meetings. Southampton and West Ham played out a goalless draw in their first league meeting last season with Jussi Jaaskelainen pulling off several fantastic saves to earn West Ham a point. Defender James Collins did however have a glorious chance to win the game late on but blasted over the bar. West Ham’s last meeting with the Saints at Upton Park ended in a 3-1 win for West Ham. The hammers were however made to work for the three points having gone a goal down inside just 8 minutes through a header from Maya Yoshida but drew level through Matt Jarvis and Carlton Cole put West Ham ahead just three minutes later. Captain Kevin Nolan secured West Ham’s fourth consecutive league win scoring a close range volley as West Ham took a giant step towards Premier League survival.

Team News

Sam Allardyce will be facing somewhat of a selection headache in the run up to Saturdays game with Matt Jarvis sidelined due to a thigh injury, whilst defenders Carl Jenkinson and James Collins will miss the game due to hamstring injuries. Captain Kevin Nolan and teammate Andy Carroll with also miss the game due to shoulder and ankle injuries. Diafra Sakho is also a doubt having tweaked his back in Tuesday’s cup tie with Sheffield United so Carlton Cole is likely to start up-front. Meanwhile Saints manager Ronald Koeman faces problems of his own with strikers Sam Gallagher and Jay Rodriguez both sidelined with knee injuries. Lloyd Isgrove will also miss the game having picked up an injury in Southampton’s Capital One Cup win over Millwall.

e-West Ham prediction

West Ham’s last outing gave me enormous confidence that Sam Allardyce will try to play more expansive football this season and with Mauro Zarate’s impressive performance against Crystal Palace I have every confidence he will cause Southampton some problems. However, Southampton put in an impressive performance away at Liverpool so West Ham won’t have it all their own way therefore I think it will be a tight game.

West Ham 2-1 Southampton

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