Kurt Zouma risks West Ham United HT axe with Taiwo Awoniyi ‘licking his lips’ for Nottingham Forest
Kurt Zouma has struggled in his battle against Taiwo Awoniyi with West Ham on the back foot in the first half against Nottingham Forest.
With the Hammers in desperate need of a positive response after the miserable 6-0 defeat to Arsenal last week the captain has arguably looked like the most likely weakness for the home side to exploit.
The Frenchman was withdrawn and half time at the London Stadium last week and David Moyes may need to consider doing the same again with Forest’s Nigerian forward causing problems up against Zouma.
The lack of height in the line-up with Tomas Soucek already dropped in favour of Kalvin Phillips may be a relevant factor, but were the under-pressure manager minded to replace his skipper with Konstantinos Mavropanos he may be satisfied the aerial ability hasn’t dipped too much.
Zouma had already conceded two fouls within the opening quarter-hour at the City Ground, and was potentially fortunate to escape a booking as he tangled with Awoniyi near the half way line.
Awoniyi on top in battle with West Ham captain Zouma
Jobi McAnuff reacted live on the world feed match commentary (3.15pm) to that incident to say: “I think Awoniyi will be licking his lips with this match up so far”.
The Forest striker also ran in behind with his West Ham counterpart beaten for a big chance on half an hour, as Anthony Elanga played a threatening ball in behind Zouma, with only sharp reactions from Alphonse Areola avoiding danger as he dashed out to cut in.
According to SofaScore Zouma has had a rough 45 minutes all round, winning neither of his ground duels (0%), completing none of his three long balls (0%), having lost possession four times and committed two fouls.
Nuno Espirito Santo’s side are ultimately under a lot more pressure down in 16th so there is plenty of scope for the Hammers to get the result they need after two bad losses, and no wins yet in 2024.
But there is also evident threat from the home side and Awoniyi was indeed the man to break the deadlock in the final moments before half-time, that time rolling Nayef Aguerd to slide home.
Unless Moyes is confident that Zouma has belatedly got the measure of his opposite number and can start to be proactive rather than reactive in their battle he will have to consider a change at the break lest matters get worse in the second half, with the manager’s job under big pressure currently.
In other West Ham news, Steve Cooper was sacked by Forest this season but could yet end up at the London Stadium.
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