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West Ham vs Huddersfield – Premier League Match Preview

The final fixture of this fourth round of Premier League matches takes us to the London Stadium in what is a first home game of the season for West Ham. Their first three outings have all been on the road and they have all ended up in defeats.

The reason why they have had this run of away fixtures is due to their stadium being used as the venue for the IAAF Athletics World Championships so a return to familiar ground this evening will be very much welcomed and it is Huddersfield that will provide the opposition later tonight.

West Ham currently find themselves at the foot of the table but they will take some comfort that earning at least a point will at least get them off the bottom after Crystal Palace’s even more miserable streak of results that are yet to even yield a goal.

But will a point be enough as Slaven Bilic feels the pressure after a somewhat unremarkable start to this campaign. West Ham have found the net just twice, that was thanks to summer signing Javier Hernandez but the bigger worry will be the fact that they have shipped 10 goals at the other end.

That is an average of 3.33 a game and a figure that is far too high especially at the start of the campaign, that is something that Huddersfield will look to take full advantage of as they find themselves currently 6th in the Premier League, while a win tonight would move them back up to 3rd.

They lost their one hundred percent record before the international break when they were held to a home draw by Southampton but manager David Wagner can have few if any complaints to their start to the season which has won many plaudits.

You could argue that the fixture computer has been kind to the Yorkshire outfit but at the same time they can counter that with the fact that they can only beat what is front of them and although they have not faced a real test as yet they are certainly making hay while the sun shines in terms of results.

But even if they pick up very little against the so called big clubs at this level in fairness they are the games that they are not expected to get anything from therefore Huddersfield will identify this fixture as one that is certainly winnable as they look for a second victory in the capital.

Their first came on the opening weekend of the season when they demolished a hapless Crystal Palace 3-0 at Selhurst Park. A result which announced the top flight arrival to the footballing world. It was by the same score in which West Ham were soundly beaten by Newcastle at St James Park.

That was a result that has certainly put pressure on Slaven Bilic and you could be inclined to say that defeat tonight for the Hammers may make him the favourite to go on and lose the sack race before Crystal Palace’s current boss Frank De Boer.

That is because this is the start of the third season in charge for the Croatian while Palace have only had their man at the helm for four matches. After an impressive start in the West Ham hot seat for Bilic, progress has not just stalled but the momentum has gone backwards.

Therefore this takes on the mantle of an already must win game for the East London outfit, but with home advantage I have a feeling that they may well do enough to win and hand Huddersfield their first defeat of the season. A much welcomed home win for me.

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