The stage is set for Wednesday night’s trip to Championship new boys Lincoln City as Nuno’s West Ham United will be desperate to bounce back with a convincing win, having dropped back one place following their own and competing sides’ results this weekend.
The Hammers have been leapfrogged by Middlesboro and are level on points with fourth placed Stoke City but with their hugely better goal difference, Nuno’s Irons stay in third place.
Unlike The Imps – who they play on Wednesday for the first time since West Ham’s 0 -1 Carabao Cup win in 2023 courtesy of a Tomas Soucek 70th minute goal. Lincoln City were on the end of a 3-0 drubbing by Sheffield United this afternoon, largely thanks to another ex-Premier League striker Patrick Bamford who bagged a brace in the Blades’ easy win.
Newly promoted from the third tier, Lincoln struggled to contain Championship goal scorers (which kind of bodes well for West Ham’s visit: Piroe, Taty and Jarrod Bowen should be licking their lips) – as Lincoln’s left back Adam Reach more or less confirmed:
“When you come up against Championship strikers, it doesn’t take much for them to score. You saw that with Bamford’s goals today. They were pretty much half-chances, but you find yourself 3-0 down.” (weareimps.com)
Admitting that the visit of the Hammers is a huge event, Lincoln are looking forward to a big night at home whilst at the same time only too aware that their opponents, now unbeaten in seven, will be desperate for three points after the QPR misfire:
“We’re going to lose games this year and I think we’re all aware of that. It’s about how you bounce back after one negative result and, so far, we’ve bounced back really well this season.
Tomas Soucek scored the last time West Ham played Lincoln City
“We need to do that on Wednesday. What a fantastic game for the club. Nights like that against West Ham United are why we all worked so hard last year and why we celebrated so much, because we’re back in the Championship.
“Those types of games are what we worked hard for nine months last season, but we don’t want to just enjoy it. We want to go out there and show them how well we can do, and I’m sure we will”
Hopefully strengthened with the return of Joel Veltman (after injury) and Mohamadou Kanté (after suspension) West Ham will be looking forward to inflicting a little retribution on their hosts after a poor game yesterday in a fixture that simply cannot come soon enough to expunge the memory of Friday night’s tepid home performance.