The Championship gets going in a few hours time after a three week hiatus: London Stadium under the lights needs to be at its intimidating best as West Ham’s opponents plan to use the occasion to raise their own game, in what is considered by their boss Julien Stephan as the toughest in the calendar.
West Ham’s London Stadium at night needs to become an intimidating place for visiting teams this season
As reported on the QPR web site, the French Manager has demanded his team aim to replicate Millwall’s methodology and start feisty rather than allow themselves to be overawed:
” Oh, for sure it’s one of the biggest challenges of the season when you play West Ham away from home. Big stadium, very good team, top players. But if we consider that it’s a difficulty, I don’t think we have a lot of chance.
If however we consider that it’s an opportunity to do something very special – and sometimes we can do something very, very special even without a win.
Playing for the draw..? or a loss of translation.
“Doing something special depends on the behaviour, the mindset and what you do on the pitch and the emotions that you give to your fans. And I know that we will have thousands of people in the stands on Friday and we have to give them special emotion. You never know what can happen.”
‘Lets do it for the fans‘ seems to be his battle cry – which will lead to a combative first fifteen minutes for West Ham’s hitherto flaky defence to withstand, rather than giving another opponent a head start.
Do that, and the Hammers should easily have enough to overwhelm their West London neighbours as the game wears on.
Our Score Predictions:
Martin 2-1 West Ham win
Gonzo 3 – 1 West Ham win
Matt 2 – 1 West Ham win
Sean 3-2 West Ham win
We’ll have Nuno’s starting XI posted live at 1845 hrs so check back for team news shortly.. Come. On.You.Irons!
I’m running with 2-0 we should win this one…