da wazamba： Despite all the furore surrounding Dimitri Payet at West Ham, the Irons have looked a stronger side of late, even without their 2015/16 talisman.
da bet7： hTheir next Premier League match sees them face Manchester City, the team that thrashed them to knock them out of the FA Cup just a few weeks ago. Slaven Bilic’s Hammers have returned to the comfort of mid-table after a challenging start to the season and will be out for revenge against Manchester City.
Seemingly more motivated by Payet’s refusal to play for the club, West Ham look a danger once again. City, on the other hand, continue to look flimsy defensively and are at serious risk of missing out on the top four altogether this season.
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With Spurs, Arsenal, Liverpool and Chelsea playing on Tuesday night, the top four could look rather different by the time that Pep Guardiola’s side kick-off on Wednesday evening at the London Stadium. A frustrating, controversial 2-2 draw with Spurs clearly angered Guardiola, but the result will sting, even if it seemed unfair. Their performance was a good response to the thrashing suffered against Everton, but the inability to hold onto a two-goal lead in such a big game won’t be forgotten.
West Ham’s weekend was significantly cheerier. Payet has been cast to the back of the minds, thanks to the efforts on the pitch of his ‘former’ team-mates. Consecutive victories over Crystal Palace and Middlesbrough have been emphatic.
Andy Carroll is representing the striker that the Irons thought they signed when they paid all that money to bring him to the club from Liverpool. Far more than the lumbering target man we have seen all too often, Carroll is being a nuisance, linking play and dominating aerially in a more cultured fashion. He has led the way for Bilic’s side in their two victories and he represents a massive threat to Manchester City.
Relegation is hardly a worry for the Hammers now, which has relaxed Bilic and looks to have freed up their players. Their recent performances almost suggest that the dependency on Payet was crippling some of their other gifted attacking players in the final third. Manuel Lanzini has returned to somewhere near his best form of last season, most notably.
Results have seen West Ham reach the league position that many would have expected from them at the start of this season. It is the trajectory of their campaign that should worry Manchester City, though. The respective form of the two teams makes this match a potential cracker. Both defences are unreliable in their performances and there is a wealth of attacking talent on display.
Revenge is an easy narrative to peddle. One that is overused, in fact. For this West Ham team, though, it seems quite fitting. There was a collective gritting of teeth to drag themselves away from the bottom three – paired with a fair bit of luck – and they are driving up the Premier League in the process. Such a haunting FA Cup defeat is fresh in their memory and it only serves as extra motivation for a team that are beginning to perform somewhere closer to expectations.
Manchester City need a victory with increasing desperation, but they have one of the most challenging possible fixtures.
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