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West Ham workhorses will be key to defensive stability
West Ham United are defensively strong at the moment – a notion the Hammers faithful haven’t been used to all that often down the years.
Manuel Pellegrini’s side have kept four clean sheets in all competitions so far, and haven’t conceded in any of their last three Premier League games.
The Irons were destroyed 5-0 on the opening day by Manchester City, but Pep Guardiola’s side is special and will take more teams apart this term, as they did last weekend with the 8-0 against Watford.
West Ham fans rightfully didn’t read too much into that result, and the response really has been impressive.
Issa Diop and Angelo Ogbonna have struck up a good partnership, while Arthur Masuaku and Ryan Fredericks have both made bright starts.
It’s going to be key for West Ham to stay tight at the back, and one way they can achieve that is through the help of wingers Felipe Anderson and Andriy Yarmolenko.
TBR’s view
Against Manchester United, the wingers worked their socks off to provide protection for their full-backs – especially Anderson, who really does do the dirty work for his team most weekends.
The 26-year-old Brazilian is a quality with the ball at his feet but West Ham fans have come to greatly appreciate his willingness to track back and help Masuaku or Aaron Cresswell depending who’s playing.
Against Manchester United, £17.5 million signing Yarmolenko () also showed he has that in his locker, as he raced back to block a goal-bound effort from Jesse Lingard.
West Ham have some serious threats in attack and shouldn’t have any issues scoring goals this year, but if the likes of Anderson and Yarmolenko bring their workhorse natures every time to aid the defence, then Pellegrini’s side stand to win a lot of games.