Paul merson couldn’t hold back at west ham star
Mohammed Kudus could be hit with a longer ban after being sent off for violent conduct against Tottenham.
The forward saw red in the 86th minute on Saturday after lashing out at Micky van de Ven and Pape Matar Sarr.
Kudus was originally shown a yellow card by referee Andrew Madley, but this was upgraded to a straight red on VAR review. The forward aimed two kicks at Van de Ven while the defender was on the floor, then shoved the Spurs man in the face after he had got up to confront him. Despite his team-mates’ attempts to retrain him, Kudus then also pushed Sarr in the face.
Violent conduct offences are a minimum three-game ban, but former referee Mike Dean said on Sky Sports that Kudus should receive a stricter punishment.
‘When you see the footage back, the first one he could have got sent off for, which hopefully he has,’ Dean said.
In the first seven Premier League fixtures, West Ham have faced three defeats. All of them came at home against top Premier League teams such as Aston Villa, Manchester City and Chelsea. Now, West Ham are preparing to face another quality Premier League side Tottenham Hotspurs in an away fixture after the international break.
Ange Postecoglou’s side were on a four match winning streak across all competitions before facing Brighton in the seventh matchday. Tottenham Hotspurs registered a massive 3-0 away win against Erik Ten Hag’s Manchester United but conceded three second half goals to face a comeback 3-2 defeat against Brighton.
Paul Merson predicts first away defeat for Julen Lopetegui’s West Ham
This put an end to their winning momentum, while Julen Lopetegui’s side kept their goalscoring struggles aside to score four goals in an important 4-1 win against newly promoted side Ipswich Town. While West Ham are the favourites to register consecutive away Premier League wins over the home side, former Arsenal forward Paul Merson isn’t much convinced with the Hammers, saying,
“West Ham have not lived up to expectations. They got a big win over Ipswich Town last time out and the international break probably came at the wrong time for them.
West Ham could be back to where they started now, and with the break giving time for things to settle down at Tottenham, I’m backing Spurs to win.”
– Paul Merson
Without a doubt, consistency has been an issue for the Hammers, who couldn’t keep their winning momentum going after winning the second league match against Crystal Palace and their second round Carabao Cup win over Bournemouth. Moreover, star players such as Edson Alvarez, Lucas Paqueta and Mohammed Kudus haven’t enjoyed a great start to the season, thus, West Ham could struggle against Tottenham Hotspurs if Ange Postecoglou’s side take an early 1-0 lead.
However, centre forward Michail Antonio and club captain Jarrod Bowen returned to their best form against Ipswich Town and Julen Lopetegui’s side will again rely on them to score more goals against Tottenham Hotspurs in the upcoming fixture.
