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Irons have a big problem to solve says pundit

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Michael Owen fears the Hammers leaky defence will be their undoing against Spurs at the weekend.

Both teams had tight results at the weekend with the Irons being dragged back by Leicester at the death and Spurs beating Brighton with an eleventh hour winner.

Owen was well impressed with the Hammers performance believing they played excellently but believes their goal leakages will see them on the losing end of things this weekend.

“It looked like being one of those nights for Spurs against Brighton midweek but Christian Eriksen’s late winner was enough to give the hosts their fourth successive win since moving into the new Tottenham Hotspur Stadium and they have yet to concede a goal in that run,” he said in his Bet Victor Blog.

“West Ham played their part in a terrific game against Leicester last weekend, but they continue to leak goals and I feel the hosts will gain another valuable three points although they may lose their proud defensive home record.”

ClaretandHugh says: Owen has a point of course but, as we wrote in an earlier piece, the Hammers have plenty going for them this weekend notably their ability to approach the game with little pressure on them whereas Spurs have a lot to consider ahead of the Champions league semi final. However, there can be no getting away from the fact that defensively we are fragile which is why it’s probably likely that Issa Diop will be restored to central defence as Fabian Balbuena’s partner. The Paraguayan has not looked like a player on his way back since injury but instead has slotted back into things impressively. Diop has had a good rest now towards the end of a long season and this is a game we believe he has to be involved in. That would be tough on Ogbonna who has done little wrong but for a game such as this the boss will surely revert to his first choices which surely has to be the two summer signings.

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Hugh Southon is a lifelong Iron and the founding editor of ClaretandHugh. He is a national newspaper journalist of many years experience and was Bobby Moore's 'ghost' writer during the great man's lifetime. He describes ClaretandHugh as "the Hammers daily newspaper!"

Follow on Twitter @hughsouthon

1 comment

  • mark wiggins says:

    Our defence needs sorting in the summer for sure we have let in silly goals which could have been prevented . However for Spurs I would favour Diop and Balbuena. Diop has had a few games out and must be chomping at the bit to prove himself. COYI ⚒ would love to beat spurs ⚒

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