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West Ham United is enjoying an early and well-deserved great start to the season as they currently sit fourth in the table with 16 points and a record of 5-1-3. They have won 4 of their last 5 games falling only to Manchester United and enjoying a shock win over last season’s champions Manchester City. Although the possession was not all theirs, goals from Morgan Amalfitano and Diafra Sakho proved enough to secure the 3 points.
West Ham ended last seasons campaign in 13th place and a record of 11-7-20. With more than 2/3 of the season left to play, West Ham are already halfway to matching last season, but surely will be looking to finish the season somewhere near the top 5 spots. Thanks to Alexandre Song, Enner Valencia, Stewart Downing and Diafra Sakho, this goal may well be possible.
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Alexandre Song (27) is on loan at West Ham from Barcelona because he has struggled to see playing time with the Catalonian club. He has immediately made a presence in the midfield for West Ham and now holds the captain’s armband after Kevin Nolan’s injury. He displayed why he deserves the honor against City, passing well and playing defense. As of now, Song is only on a season-long loan. If West Ham cannot keep him, Sam Allardyce will have trouble replacing him.
Enner Valencia is also a summer signing that has made a name for himself with West Ham. Valencia show-cased his skills at this year’s World Cup with Ecuador and he is still showing good form. His pace is beneficial to the attack and already has 2 goals and 1 assist. Stewart Downing is also showing good form with 3 assists and 1 goal for the Hammers.
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Diafra Sakho is shining bright for West Ham in his first season in the Premier League and is enjoying a long streak of goals with 6 goals in his last 6 games as well as 1 assist. That makes him the fourth top scorer in the Premier League behind Saido Berahino of West Bromwhich, Sergio Aguero of Manchester City and Diego Costa of Chelsea. He has shown that he can score in the air as well as he takes on defenders. If Sakho can keep up this great form, there is little doubt that he can end up among the top 3 scorers and lead West Ham to a spot in either the Europa or Champions League.
West Ham’s next fixtures include:
@ Stoke City
Aston Villa
@ Everton
Newcastle United
@ West Bromwhich
Swansea
@ Sunderland
Leicester City
West Ham will need to take many points from their next 8 games in order to be in a good position before Christmas as this will be their best chance to gain points since they do not play bigger clubs, but they should have confidence since they have already beaten Liverpool and Manchester City.
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To the readers:
Do you think that West Ham has what it takes to stay in the top 5?
