On Saturday, West Ham will face Watford in their 2nd game at the London Stadium with both teams looking to recover from 3-1 losses from the last game before the international break against stronger opposition in Manchester City and Arsenal respectively.
Team News
Many players are back for West Ham this weekend such as Edimilson Fernandes, Sofiane Feghouli, Havard Nordtveit, new signing, Simone Zaza and Hammer of the Year, Dimitri Payet who will be a big boost to this West Ham side as it has been clear that they have lacked creativity over the past few games.
Simone Zaza is likely to make his debut against the Hornets and will look the get straight on the score sheet which will relieve a lot of pressure off of his shoulders, it will also relieve the pressure off of David Gold and David Sullivan who promised the fans that West Ham will sign a 20 goal-a-season striker and Zaza is the only recognised striker West Ham have signed this summer transfer window. Edimilson is expected to play in the Premier League 2 clash against Wolves on Friday night so it will be unlikely that he will make an appearance on Saturday.
With key men like Payet, Lanzini, Zaza and Feghouli all back for the match against Watford, West Ham will pose a very strong attacking threat. However, ex-World Cup winner, Alvaro Arbeloa, isn’t match fit yet so he will have to wait for his debut for the Hammers.
New Watford manager, Walter Mazzarri, has brought in many new faces to Vicarage Road this summer including former West Ham target, Roberto Pereyra. Mazzarri will only have defenders, Craig Cathcart and Brice Dje Djedje, unavailable for this match at the London Stadium which means they are expected to play a very strong side on Saturday.
My Predicted XI’s:
West Ham – Formation: 4-2-3-1 – Adrian; Byram, Reid, Ogbonna, Masuaku; Noble, Kouyate; Antonio, Lanzini, Payet; Zaza.
Watford – Formation: 3-5-2 – Gomes; Kaboul, Prodl, Kabasele; Amrabat, Pereyra, Behrami, Capoue, Holebas; Deeney, Ighalo.
Previous Meetings
In the league, West Ham have had good fortunes against Watford winning 22 of their last 34 matches against the Hornets with Watford only winning 6 of the 34 meetings and the rest have been draws. The last match up between these two sides ended 3-1 to West Ham with fan favourite, Mark Noble, scoring two penalties in the convincing win at the end of April. However, the Watford team in that game was very weak as they had an FA Semi-Final to play against Crystal Palace on the upcoming Saturday. Watford have shown before that they can pose a threat to West Ham when on Halloween last year the Hammers put on a horror show at Vicarage Road.
Match Details
The clash between the Hammers and the Hornets will take place at West Ham’s London Stadium at 3pm on Saturday, 10th September. You can see updates on the West Ham Twitter page. You can also see the goals as they go in on the Sky Sports Score Centre app for iOS and Android.
