Manuel Pellegrini has admitted that upcoming opponents Norwich City will be a difficult challenge for West Ham and that Teemu Pukki will pose a threat.
Speaking to the club’s official website ahead of Saturday’s game with the Canaries, the former Manchester City boss highlighted that the newly-promoted side play an impressive style of football with the right players that fit Daniel Farke’s current system at the club.
Pellegrini said: “Norwich is a team that attacks a lot with good, technical players. I saw the three games they played this season and they played in the exact same away against Liverpool away, Chelsea at home, and Newcastle. They are a very good team and we know we need to work hard if we want to add three more points.”
Of course, the man of the moment for Norwich is star striker Pukki, who so far this season has scored in every Premier League game and currently sits alongside Raheem Sterling at the top of the goalscoring charts in the division, and the West Ham boss highlighted what the 29-year-old attacker can do.
Pellegrini said about the Finnish international: “I think we know what Pukki did last season for Norwich in the Championship and he’s demonstrating that the Premier League is not a problem for him. He’s working exactly the same. He’s in a good moment and has scored five goals in three games. We will need to be very careful about him.”
Pukki, who has a Transfermarkt valuation of £5.4m, has been one of the in-form players in the league this season, netting against top-six sides Liverpool and Chelsea as well as bagging a hat-trick against Newcastle United as the former Celtic-striker has seemingly continued his impressive goalscoring form from last season in the Championship into the English top-flight.
