Three BOLD Predictions for Jesse Lingard at West Ham
By Adam Smith
How many goals and assists can we expect from Lingard?
This is a difficult question to answer for a few different reasons. The most obvious real this could prove difficult is explained in the previous slide – Lingard will be playing a bunch of different positions. While this will give him many opportunities, it will also cause him to have to focus his efforts on team chemistry and positional responsibilities before all-out attacking.
More importantly, though, Lingard has played just one match in 2021, an 80 minute CAM performance in the FA Cup with no goals or assists to his name. Outside of this, he has only played in two other matches this season in the EFL Cup for a combined 99 minutes without a goal or assists either.
It is well documented that Lingard has fallen down the pecking order at his home club, but off the pitch responsibilities have also caused the Englishman to focus on family over football which always comes first.
Judging by his last full season for United, Lingard played in 40 matches for United in 2019/20, both before and after the COVID-19 shutdown to play. He managed four goals and two assists in this disjointed season, which was underwhelming in both categories.
For West Ham, the ‘play me anywhere’ strategy will likely be used as it was at Manchester United so these numbers could be similar when extrapolated down. That being said, I back Lingard to smash similar season numbers in his half-season loan in East London.