WHZ View: Three things we learned about West Ham in win v West Brom
West Ham won for the third Premier League game in a row on Tuesday in a 2-1 victory over West Brom at the London Stadium.
The Hammers are cruising right now, sitting seventh in the table on 32 points. It’s our best tally after 19 Premier League games, which is a testament to David Moyes who’s turned things around remarkably over the past 12 months.
Here at West Ham Zone, we have picked out three things to take away from our ninth win of the season.
1.Antonio chasing records
Michail Antonio’s strike against West Brom was a significant one for a few reasons. His fifth strike of the season see’s him level Tomas Soucek, but also means he’s the record goal-scorer at the London Stadium with 15.
The Englishman is now West Ham’s third-highest goal scorer in the Premier League with 41, leapfrogging Carlton Cole. He’s now just five away from club captain Mark Noble and eight off the Hammers icon Paolo Di Canio.
Antonio’s in red hot form and will fancy his chances against a shaky Crystal Palace defence in our next league game.
2.Coufal proving an absolute steal
What a signing Vladimir Coufal has turned out to be. On the recommendation of Tomas Soucek, the Czech Republic international was signed for £5m in the summer and has transitioned seamlessly.
The right-back set up Jarrod Bowen’s opener at home to the Baggies, making that three assists for the season. He’s played in 1436 of 1441 PL minutes since making his debut away to Leicester in October.
Not many would have known about Coufal prior to his signing (ourselves included), but his performances appear to have solved our long-standing issues at right-back.
3.Equalling our best start ever to a calendrer year
Wins against Everton, Stockport, Burnley and West Brom mean we’ve won our first four games in a calendrer year since 1958 under Ted Fenton.
That season we finished first in the old second division, with 57 points after 42 games. John Dick struck 21 times as 23 victories saw us promoted to the old first division.
It was the first time we’d won promotion since our relegation in the 1931-32 season.
A good omen?
In other West Ham news, have we found a replacement for Haller with this Serie A star?