Well, after what has been quite the incredible start to the Premier League season, we find ourselves sat in third position with only Manchester City and Manchester United ahead of us- and even then, United in first, are only three points ahead, as the table below shows.
Our form at the Boleyn has been a bit dodgy, and it looks like our lads prefer to play away! Nine points from three games away at Arsenal, Liverpool and Man City, and only four from four games at home against Leicester, Bournemouth, Newcastle and Norwich!
Seems we like playing away more!
The two goals for ourselves in Saturday’s 2-2 draw with Norwich were put on a plate for goal scorers Diafra Sakho and Cheikhou Kouyate, as Sakho capitalised on good work on the right wing, whilst Kouyate slotted away following a Dmitri Payet free kick which dropped kindly for the midfielder. Got to give Norwich credit, they came with a plan in mind, and executed it well. They bossed the midfield [someone ask Slaven to have a word with Noble 🙁 ]. On the positive side, we came from behind, not once but twice, and that augurs well, as we’ve usually had success this season when we’ve scored first.
Noble had a poor game against Norwich
Arguably the importance and significance of Victor Moses 20-yard strike at the Etihad against City has to put that amongst the ‘top, top’ goals so far. The midfielder has settled into the Hammers side well, and the confidence needed to hit such a sweet strike as he did that day, is there for all to see.
Video- Victor Moses goal v Man City (courtesy Streamable.com)
Payet’s double against Newcastle United were two well-taken goals. The first, a sweet curler from the edge of the box giving Tim Krul no chance – before taking advantage of Moses’ effort rebounding off the cross bad, slotting away an easy one.
Our first win at Anfield against Liverpool since 1963 was something pretty special, and the fact we put three goals past them made it even sweeter. Manuel Lanzini scored his first goal for the club to open the scoring, and it was a well-worked goal as Aaron Cresswell set up a tap in. Lanzini then became the playmaker for the second as he robbed Dejan Lovren of the ball on the byline, before pulling it back in the box for Mark Noble to slot it sweetly into the
right hand corner. Sakho’s composure in the box for the third was incredible, and capped off a memorable evening.
It wouldn’t be fair to not give an honourable mention to the way our season started too, winning 2-0 against our London rivals Arsenal – at the Emirates too. Let’s not take too much away from Kouyate, who read Payet’s cross wonderfully to head home for the first – but Petr Cech didn’t half make a mess of his attempt at a clearance. If Cech’s mistake that led to our first, his ‘attempt’ at trying to stop Mauro Zarate’s goal was laughable. But once again the Hammers got into the position to test the keeper, and Zarate struck his shot well.
Speaking of goals, has Mata scored the best goal this season? With 45 passes strung together in the leadup, it was a fantastic team goal. It’s hard to argue too much, it was absolutely stunning, and the kind of goal you haven’t seen from United since SAF left.
The 45 passes in the lead up to Mata’s goal
However, after reading this article do you feel this West Ham squad could create some lasting memories and superb goals to match? If we keep on moving at the same pace, you can be sure of it.
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