West Ham Fan View: Three things to look out for against Southampton

Following last week’s humiliating defeat to Manchester United, West Ham face Southampton at St. Mary’s Stadium on Saturday. They drew their first game and, like us, will be wanting to put in a much improved performance this weekend. Here are three things to look out for…

Michail Antonio’s return

Our Hammer of the Year missed the game against Manchester United though he is in contention to play this weekend. We missed his power and ability to drive at opponents with the ball. Pablo Zabaleta was being exposed far too often against Manchester United and Antonio’s return should help him defensively given his exceptional work-rate.

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With Antonio returning from an injury, we may see him being brought on as a substitute. But given the loss last weekend, Slaven Bilic may be forced to start him. The position in which he plays will also be interesting. Will we see Antonio have a full season at RAM?

Can we show that last weekend was simply too tough of an opponent?

It was difficult to watch the game against Manchester United. We were outclassed in all areas of the pitch and we did not pose a serious threat for majority of the game. We created little when attacking, there was too much space for Manchester United to exploit, and there was no fight in the team.

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But it was always expected that we would lose against Manchester United given the quality that they possess. There is no doubt that Southampton are a much inferior team to Manchester United. We can use this weekend’s game to show our quality as a team and use it as a more realistic measure of how we will fare this season.

There was little chance of gaining points last weekend but we will create more chances this week and we won’t be defending the likes of Paul Pogba and Romelu Lukaku. We should come out with the three points.

A repeat of last season?

When we travelled to Southampton last season, we won 3-1 after conceding the first goal. The story was similar in our other away games where we looked far more comfortable than at home. This season, due to the IAAF World Championships taking place, our first three Premier League fixtures are all away.

Now this would normally be a worry but let’s not forget that we had a better away form than majority of the teams in the Premier League last season. The transition to the new stadium was difficult and our away form saved us. Can we repeat last season’s away form this season? We currently sit bottom of the Premier League table and we have to pick up some points before our first home game next month.

My prediction? Southampton 1-2 West Ham.