West Ham vs Norwich preview
High-flying West Ham will face a tricky test when they welcome Norwich City at Upton Park on Saturday.
The Hammers completed a remarkable hat-trick of away wins against big teams by becoming the first side to score against and defeat Manchester City this season. That 1-2 win at the Etihad Stadium followed impressive victories on the road at Liverpool and Arsenal.
Thanks to those big wins, plus a 2-0 home win against Newcastle, Slaven Bilic’s men sit in third place ahead of this weekend’s fixtures. Bilic is aware that West Ham had a similarly impressive start last season but ended up experiencing a huge dip in form during the second-half of that campaign, so the Croatian boss is wary of setting long-term targets for his men.
The main short-term objective is to defeat Norwich City on Saturday. That may prove more difficult than many would probably imagine. Virtually all of West Ham’s success in the league this season has been built on solid defending before picking off the opponents on the break, even in the only home win against Newcastle.
Alex Neil’s charges will not be as open and cavalier as the big sides. In fact, the Canaries are similarly efficient in terms of getting results on the road by defending deep, with numbers behind the ball, before playing on the counter.
Unlike most teams, which usually rely on home form to achieve their goals, Neil’s men are collecting the same number of points both at home and away this season. They come into this encounter after taking a point in a 1-1 draw at Anfield last weekend.
Norwich’s away record is actually better than their home record since Neil took over midway through last season. The young manager has secured the same number of wins (10) both at home and away, while tasting defeat only once on the road compared to four times at Carrow Road in the same number of games.
West Ham team news
- Alex Song (ankle), Enner Valencia (knee), Joey O’Brien (calf) and Angelo Ogbonna (hamstring) are all out injured.
Norwich City team news
- Matt Jarvis is ineligible to face his parent club.
- Youssouf Mulumbu (metatarsal fracture) and Gary Hooper (ankle) are both expected to miss the trip to London.
West Ham vs Norwich City prediction
Bilic rested a couple of key players in the 2-1 Capital One Cup defeat to Leicester in midweek, so the likes of Winston Reid, Cheikhou Kouyate and Dimitri Payet should all return to the starting line-up.
Mark Noble and Kouyate could be the central midfielders, alternating with one pushing on to back play centrally while the other stays to protect central defenders when attacking.
The Hammers will probably start in a 4-2-3-1 formation, so Payet may be flanked by Victor Moses and Manuel Lanzini as the attacking midfielders supporting Diafra Sakho.
Neil will obviously be disappointed he cannot involve Jarvis because he provides natural width to the Canaries as a left winger. Jonny Howson could deputise, with Robbie Brady overlapping from left-back position to supply crosses into the box.
Wes Hoolahan is likely to operate as a supporting striker just behind Cameron Jerome in a 4-4-1-1 formation, with Nathan Redmond drifting inside from the right side of midfield to support the strikers.
Neil will most likely detail his charges to drop deep and try to execute direct attacks with Jerome as a target for long balls, but this will be an interesting game from a West Ham perspective. The Hammers lost to Leicester City and Bournemouth in the two occasions they tried to take the game to opponents at home. Will they get it right against the Canaries?
Score prediction
West Ham 2-2 Norwich City.
