Sky Sports pundit Paul Merson has praised West Ham United midfielder Felipe Anderson and comeback kid Andy Carroll ahead of the weekend clash against Fulham.
Manuel Pellegrini’s side travel to Craven Cottage to take on the struggling Cottagers, and Merson envisions the visitors securing a comfortable 3-1 victory.
“West Ham have turned the corner. They’re on a roll. They’ve had a lot of hard games this season, and we judged them quite early on, but they’ve bounced back,” he wrote on the Sky Sports website.
“West Ham have good individual players who can win football matches; Marko Arnautovic is injured, but Felipe Anderson has stepped up big time. Andy Carroll is coming back, and he’ll provide another dimension. What an option to have.
“But I’ve got to go West Ham here. I don’t fancy Fulham one bit, I just think they’re going to concede too many goals. I’d be shocked if they stayed up; they have to score two or three goals every week to win a football match.”
OPINION
It is difficult to see Fulham picking up a win at the moment. They simply defend so poorly that you wonder how they’re going to pick up victories. West Ham are on a good run at the moment, and the likes of Anderson and Javier Hernandez will be looking forward to taking on the Cottagers’ leaky defence. 3-1 sounds about right, to be honest. The hosts will likely score, because they do have a lot of attacking talent, but there really is nothing to suggest that Claudio Ranieri’s team will be able to keep the Hammers out at the other end. Pellegrini will be expecting three points and so will the travelling West Ham faithful – it’s difficult to see the team disappointing them. You never know in the Premier League, and there is some talent in this Fulham team, but West Ham are progressing nicely this season and should beat the Cottagers handily.