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Two goal Mikey or Villa mission Ings decision ahead

By Simon Leyland

Our supremo admits he faces a difficult decision on who to play up front for West Ham United today with three strikers competing for a starting place.

Goals have been hard to come by for us in the Premier League this season with Moyes’ men netting just 23 times in 25 games so far.

Michail Antonio is the club’s top scorer in all competitions with nine goals this term, but only three of those have come in Premier League fixtures.

The 32-year-old scored twice in four games earlier in the season but he went the next 13 appearances without a league goal before scoring in the 4-0 win against Nottingham Forest two weeks ago.

Gianluca Scamacca, who the Hammers signed for £30.5million from Sassuolo in the summer, has seven for the season, but he has also only scored three times in the 16 Premier League games he has featured. The Italian also went through a goal drought himself at one stage, failing to find the net in ten consecutive appearances heading towards the January transfer window.

We then decided to bolster our attacking ranks further in January with the £12m signing of experienced striker Danny Ings.

The 30-year-old had 68 top-flight goals to his name from previous spells at Burnley, Liverpool, Southampton and Aston Villa before adding two more in his first West Ham start in that comfortable win over Forest.

Ahead of our crunch game against Villa today, Antonio is a doubt due to a calf issue and Scamacca has struggled for game time since returning from a knee issue, whereas Ings was an unused substitute in the Europa Conference League win against AEK Larnaca in midweek.

“We brought Gianluca in to give Antonio competition but then Gianluca had an injury and we weren’t scoring, we couldn’t get any goals from any of them, so we went down the route of getting someone tried and tested,” Moyes told the website Football London .

“That’s the way it is, I can see why you’re asking because we’ve got three and how’s that going to work if it goes into one? It’s not easy to work out who’s not going to play and who is going to play but the way we’ve been playing, we’re needing to find a way to get better in many aspects.

“I don’t think we held the ball up well enough [against Larnaca]. We’re looking and we’re striving to find a way. I think first of all, individual form would be the key – I need people to train well and look good so we can give them that opportunity.

“I’m hoping that all three can do it. Gianluca’s still behind it a bit”

 

2 comments on “Two goal Mikey or Villa mission Ings decision ahead

  1. I know it’s a bit controversial but I have heard rumours that it is actually possible to play football with two strikers! I know Moysie will find that hard to believe, but perhaps he could give it a go?

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