Manuel Pellegrini will need to muster up one hell of a performance from his West Ham side come 17:30 on Saturday evening. Should he fail to get a win at St. Mary’s, it’s believed that he’ll be sacked (ExWHUemployee), and here we’ll take a look at where Southampton can hurt West Ham.
That may sound like a strange thing to look at, as the Irons are seemingly able to be got at from every angle by any professional footballer. However, there are places where the Hammers are specifically weak and these are areas where the Irons will have to be especially careful away on the south coast.
Should Arthur Masuaku start at left-back in a back four then he’s someone who can certainly be targetted. The Congolese defender is good going forward, but he was caught out against Aston Villa when he was sent off and positionally he’s far from the best left-back in the Premier League.
However, should it not be Masuaku starting when the Irons travel to Southampton, then the Saints can get plenty of joy by packing the midfield. Pellegrini’s midfield options are yet to truly excite, and if Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg, James Ward-Prowse, Nathan Redmond and Moussa Djenepo can perform in the middle third of the pitch the Irons will be in trouble.
Robert Snodgrass was poor against Arsenal, picking up a booking and doing very little to influence the game from the right of a 4-4-1-1, whilst Felipe Anderson also didn’t do a lot on the left, so if the Saints can dominate with their midfield pairing and two wide options then it could spell trouble for the Irons.
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Hopefully, Manuel Pellegrini’s side can show up and make these areas of weakness redundant, but given recent performances, we’re not holding out too much hope, even if this is supposedly the Chilean’s last chance to save himself.
