Advertisement

West Ham Fan View: Three things to look out for when Hammers face Southampton

Zakir Hasan
The Hammers’ players are ready to handle any more crowd disturbances at London Stadium this weekend, says the manager
The Hammers’ players are ready to handle any more crowd disturbances at London Stadium this weekend, says the manager

West Ham face Southampton with the Premier League season quickly coming to an end.

Southampton currently sit one place below us in the table and a defeat will likely see us fall into the relegation zone. Here are three things to look out for…

Will David Moyes take a risk?

The view on whether David Moyes was the right fit for West Ham has changed considerably since the start of the year. Anything but a win on Saturday will be a great disappointment and Moyes has to take a risk in his starting line-up.

READ MORE: West Ham Fan View: How will Hammers fare in their next three games?

Javier Hernandez has not been favoured by Moyes since his arrival but he has still scored seven times this season. We need to be scoring more goals and with Marko Arnautovic off form, it may be the time to bring Hernandez back into the side. Should Moyes also consider changing the formation given our poor performances in recent months?

Will either side turn their form around?

Our last win in the Premier League was in February and we have lost every game since. Like us, Southampton are struggling and have only won 1 from their past 17 Premier League games. But given the magnitude of this game and the stage of the season, I think we will see a victor.

READ MORE: West Ham Fan View: Will Hammers be relegated?

This is a relegation ‘six-pointer’, we are at home, and this is probably the easiest of our remaining games. Should we fail to pick up all three points, it is hard to see us staying up. We did have a spell of poor form when Moyes first arrived and subsequently won 4 from 8. Can we turn around our form once again?


Will our key players step up?

It was a very good international break for our two most important players. Manuel Lanzini scored against Italy and Arnautovic scored three in two games. But we need them to replicate this form for West Ham. Both players have been disappointing in recent games, with Arnautovic only scoring 1 in 5.

There is certainly a lack of quality in the attacking areas at the club and this is something that has to be addressed in the summer. But can Arnautovic and Lanzini step up when we most need them?