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Why West Ham v Huddersfield could have more goals than you think

ByScott Johnson|
LONDON, ENGLAND - NOVEMBER 03: Marko Arnautovic of West Ham United scores his team's first goal from the penalty spot during the Premier League match between West Ham United and Burnley FC at London Stadium on November 3, 2018 in London, United Kingdom. (Photo by Alex Broadway/Getty Images)
LONDON, ENGLAND - NOVEMBER 03: Marko Arnautovic of West Ham United scores his team's first goal from the penalty spot during the Premier League match between West Ham United and Burnley FC at London Stadium on November 3, 2018 in London, United Kingdom. (Photo by Alex Broadway/Getty Images)

West Ham scored four and conceded two last weekend, and I think this weeks match could be similar. Even if it is against goal shy Huddersfield.

Last season Hudderfield were tough to beat and even if they didn’t score many they made it hard to beat them. This season they’ve maintained the poor scoring form and become leakier. Hence they’re sitting in the bottom 3 of the Premier League with only 5 goals scored in 11 games. Whilst West ham may exploit their defensive weaknesses, they’re not watertight themselves.

Although they ran out 4-2 winners against Burnley it wasn’t a commanding two goal lead throughout. For much of the match the Clarets were level thanks to some average defending in open play and especially from set pieces. As such I think we may have to score 2 or more goals if we want to win this game.

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Why do I think there’ll be goals? Well Hudderfield are conceding on average almost 2 per game, and the Hammers have hopefully got a solid attacking lineup now. And looking at Huddersfield’s weaknesses, courtesy of WhoScored, we have a few options. Firstly, they’re not great at defending against skillful players. Try and keep Arnautovic, Anderson or Diangana down and you’ll have no doubt they should be considered skillful.

Then you have the fact that Huddersfield are likely to make a mistake in their game, something a pacey attack who harass the defence, like ours do, should be able to take advantage of. You only have to remember Arnie’s goal at the weekend to see how we can benefit. The Hudderfield defence isn’t exactly confident of their own technical ability right now as well. The back three haven’t looked exactly comfortable in recent games.

And thirdly they can’t defend against counter attacks. With Diangana running at you from one wing and Anderson the other, and Arnie in the middle…there’s going to be a lot of defending moving towards your own goal. That is where I think we should be able to profit most. If the Huddersfield defence has to defend on the move, we should get a lot of joy for our front three.

But there is one issue we have to be aware of…

Our left side of defence. Huddersfield will look to pin us back on this side and I am worried they will get a lot of crosses in to their aerially proficient attackers. Whilst Balbuena and Diopa are improving in that area I don’t think they’re as strong aerially as they are on the ground. But there is more going for the Hammers than against them.

Another weakness for the Terriers? Their finishing. Hopefully that combined with Fabianski’s superior shot stopping ability will let us get away with a win, but I’m not sure of a clean sheet. A repeat of last season’s 4-1 perhaps? That’d be nice.