West Ham Fan View: Three things to look out for when the Hammers face West Brom
We are now in the second half of the Premier League season and West Ham currently sit 18th. West Bromwich Albion are our next opponents and the mood at the club has to improve before we play Tottenham only two days later. Here are three things to look out for:
Will poor refereeing cost us once again?
Our performance against Bournemouth was undoubtedly poor. After taking an early lead, we allowed them to get back into the game and go ahead. It was after Marko Arnautovic’s double where we believed that the game was all but won.
READ MORE: West Ham Fan View: Why Slaven Bilic had to go
But as we have seen plenty of times in the Premier League this season, the refereeing performance infuriated fans. Bournemouth not only should have had a man sent off early in the game, but their last-minute equaliser was both a handball and offside. Will we see the same poor decisions being given against us on Tuesday? There has to be more consistency in the Premier League by the officials.
Can Marko Arnautovic keep up his form?
It looked like he was going to be another transfer that went wrong under Slaven Bilic, but everything has changed for Arnautovic. We saw improvements in his form during David Moyes’ first couple of games but he has gone up another level in recent weeks.
READ MORE: West Ham Fan View: Why David Moyes MIGHT be the right man for us
Arnautovic now has five goals in his last five Premier League games. It took him 12 games to score his first goal for West Ham and he only got a total of six last season with Stoke City. Moyes has used him a striker in recent games and this change has worked wonders. Arnautovic looks far more confident when playing and we need him to keep up this form if we want to avoid relegation.
Taking points from our relegation rivals
Like us, West Brom are struggling this season and they have failed to win a Premier League game since August. Given that they are our relegation rivals, these are the games where we have to take advantage and anything but three points will be a huge disappointment.
We have regressed from the defensive organisation that we showed against the big teams under Moyes. Only two goals were conceded against Manchester City, Chelsea, and Arsenal and, in comparison, we conceded 6 in our last two games against Newcastle and Bournemouth. Can Moyes find the solution to our defensive issues against West Brom?
