Four Balls Blog Team of the Year 2015/2016

 

West Ham - Weeks 1 & 2 Review

West Ham could not have started their season in a better way as they stormed through to a 2-0 away victory against a favoured Arsenal side in their opening fixture of the season. Goals from Cheikhou Kouyate and Mauro Zarate allowed the Hammers to leave the Emirates with 3 points in their first Premier League game under new manager Slaven Bilic. Summer signing Dimitri Payet impressed massively, providing the assist for Kouyate’s opener and could surprise a few this season. Youngster Reece Oxford performed awesomely, the 16-year-old protecting the Hammers defence immensely well, completing the game with a 95% passing accuracy – the highest of any player on the pitch. Bilic will be hoping the youngster continues to play with such authority in their coming fixtures.

2015/2016 Preview - West Ham

Judging by their 2015 so far, the Hammers have little to be confident about after a poor second half of last season left them finishing in 12th after a fantastic start. When they played well they looked to Enner Valencia for the goals, but his 12 week injury could leave the West Ham fans facing more despair. However, signings such as Ogbonna and Payet will give Bilic's men talent and experience, and will be enough to secure 13th place, one spot below where they finished last year. Bilic needs to find that purple patch of form they hit early in last season or West Ham could be keeping one eye on the relegation battle, fearing the worst.