West Ham United will host Fulham on Friday fresh off a warm-weather training camp in Marbella, but Issa Diop has accepted that he will have to be on his game to stop Aleksandar Mitrovic, as per quotes on the official club website.
Diop and Mitrovic both joined their respective sides on permanent transfers in the summer and have been among the top players in East and South West London since, with the Serbian forward Fulham’s run-away top scorer after 26 games.
The 24-year-old is not the only opponent Diop is relishing coming up against when the Premier League returns to the London Stadium, either, as the centre-back is keen to better his record against Jean Michael Seri, Maxime Le Marchand and Andre-Frank Zambo Anguissa, who he lost to on each occasion as Toulouse’s captain last season.
Speaking on the trio, Diop told the official West Ham website: “I know some of their players because I played a lot of times against them in Ligue 1. They are all very good players, but I hope we can win this game.
As for Mitrovic, the French ace noted: “He’s a big, powerful striker, very strong and very good in aerial situations, so we need to be careful.
“I will work out how I can mark him on Friday night. I enjoy those physical battles with the strikers and not many will be as physical as Mitrovic.”
Diop’s preparations on aerial duels will certainly be called on as the 23-cap Serbia international has challenged for possession in the air every 6.9 minutes in the Premier League this season, and has won 168 of his 333 attempts.
For comparison, Manuel Pellegrini’s most regular defender has won 55 of his 89 aerial duels, while centre-back partner Fabian Balbuena has won 51 of 100.
