Irons have a approach
The mighty Irons have a positive approach as they head for Sunday’s match against Crystal Palace following their qualification for the Europa League knockout rounds. A narrow 1-0 victory over Backa Topola, secured by Tomas Soucek‘s 89th-minute winner, marked his third consecutive match-winning goal in quite frankly, a dire game writes Michael Talbot.
With just a point needed in their upcoming fixture against Freiburg, the Hammers aim to secure the top spot in Group A and advance to the last 16.
Amazingly, since the start of our European adventures in 2021 , only Real Madrid has won as many European games as West Ham (22). Our recent form across all competitions has been dull but effective, winning five of our last six matches, including the last four. Despite this, winning against Crystal Palace on Sunday is not assured, given our struggles in the past four encounters with the Eagles at the London Stadium, losing both home and away fixtures last season.
While West Ham’s position in the Premier League‘s top nine is secure even with a loss this weekend, a victory could propel them to eighth if Brighton falters at Stamford Bridge. In contrast, Crystal Palace are facing challenges, winning only two of their last 10 matches, both away against Manchester United and Burnley.
With a meagre goal tally, and only the three newly-promoted teams having scored fewer goals than Palace this season and despite currently sitting 13th in the table, there is a comfortable 10-point gap preventing immediate concerns of relegation for Roy Hodgson’s side.
Nevertheless, we really must play better than we did on Thursday as a repeat of that performance would surely mean more dropped points. Also it will be interesting to see if Moyes gives Maxwel Cornet, one of the few who redeemed themselves on Thursday, a start as well.