Carlton Cole and Jamie O’Hara clash live on talkSPORT as West Ham United and Arsenal claim made
Carlton Cole and Jamie O’Hara clashed live on air after a contentious claim was made about the West Ham and Arsenal squads this season.
Speaking on talkSPORT on Tuesday (23 January), Cole suggested that the Hammers’ front three of Mohammed Kudus, Jarrod Bowen and Lucas Paqueta is better than the Gunners’ forward line of Bakayo Saka, Gabriel Jesus and Gabriel Martinelli.
O’Hara said his fellow pundit was “talking garbage” as he suggested all three of the North London club’s stars were better than the Irons’ forward players.
“You think about our front three,” said Cole. “You’ve got Paqueta on the left, Bowen down the middle, Kudus on the right. Would you say that’s top-six quality?”
“It’s top-six quality, yeah,” responded O’Hara. “But it’s not Arsenal quality.”
“Okay, let’s talk about Arsenal’s front three,” said Cole. “You’ve got Saka, who is a really good player, obviously.”
“He’s better than Kudus,” replied O’Hara.
“Well, Kudus has just come, so I’m going to say okay for now,” added Cole. “Bowen, I think he’s better than Jesus.”
“He’s not better than Jesus,” said O’Hara. “Jesus plays for his country, week in and week out. What are you talking about? Every time he turns up. Jesus is a top striker, Bowen is a really good player for West Ham.”
“On the left, we’ve got Paqueta, who is better than Martinelli,” added Cole. “Martinelli doesn’t even start at the moment.”
“He isn’t better than Martinelli,” replied O’Hara. “Martinelli’s having an average season, but he’s world-class on his day.”
“What?” said a baffled Cole.
“What are you saying?” asked O’Hara. “Are you saying that West Ham’s front three is better than Arsenal’s?”
“I’m saying that, yeah,” responded Cole.
“Honestly, you’re talking garbage, mate,” said O’Hara.
Debatable
There is definitely a debate to be had on this subject at the moment in time after the West Ham trio has been firing on all cylinders this season while Arsenal’s forward players haven’t been up to scratch.
That isn’t to say each of them isn’t a fantastic player on their day, but they’ve only managed to score 13 Premier League goals between them in this campaign.
Bowen has scored 11 times on his own in the top flight, while Kudus has added league six strikes in his first season at the London Stadium.
The Gunners’ fans will argue that their players probably have a higher ceiling than ours and, while that may be true, they aren’t currently performing very well together.
David Moyes will be personally delighted with the forward players he has at his disposal and he’ll be hoping they can fire us to more success this season.
In other West Ham news, the Hammers are set to announce a new behind-the-scenes appointment.
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