Real Football Man All of the Football, All of the time
West Ham pair Aaron Cresswell and James Tomkins were both substituted because of injuries against Aston Villa and now face fitness tests.
Andy Carroll could return, but Manuel Lanzini, Victor Moses, Dimitri Payet, Winston Reid and Diafra Sakho are likely to miss out again.
Southampton will again be without Graziano Pelle and Cedric Soares.
Pelle will be absent for a few weeks with a knee problem, while Soares has a groin injury.
Editor’s Note: West Ham are in a dogged run of form as of late, no win in 8 matches and an injury list that seems to get longer and longer, Slaven Bilic must be seeing The Hammers’ season slip away before them as the stumble to mid table mediocrity is well and truly in action.
They dropped two points at Aston Villa after going in front and now find themselves in 1oth place, those away wins at Arsenal, Liverpool and Manchester City seem so far away now. Although credit must go to Slaven Bilic as his teams are still proving hard to beat with them drawing their last 5 matches, what he would give for a win today.
Their form hasn’t been helped since the absence of Dimitri Payet, it would be unfair to label them a one man team but it’s surely no coincidence that they haven’t won a game since their mercurial Frenchmen has been missing. But when pretty much your whole attacking unit is injured also then form is unsurprisingly going to take a nose dive
The bad news is they play hosts to a Southampton side high on confidence after their 4-0 thumping of Arsenal on Saturday evening. That win was their first win in 6 matches and according to Ronald Koeman a very necessary win if they aren’t to be dragged into a relegation battle.
His Saints side were by far the better side against Arsenal and he will be asking for more of the same against a West Ham side who can’t seem to buy a win at present. Southampton have too much quality to go down and will no doubt be a bit disappointed with 12th place in the league but they can go some way to rectifying that situation with a win at Upton Park.
Their was no Graziano Pelle on Saturday but Shane Long was the perfect understudy, a brace against Arsenal and a constant menace throughout. Ronald Koeman will be hoping Long gets his name on the scoresheet today at Upton Park. I can’t predict that but I do think Southampton can continue this resurgence with all 3 points. An away win for me.
