Accrington Stanley visit West Ham United at the London Stadium for what will be a lively EFL cup tie, against the backdrop of doom and gloom surrounding Slaven Billic's side the visitors will hope to further compound the negativity by causing a cup upset. It is beyond doubt that the magnificence of the new stadium does make visiting teams raise their game, it is like playing at Wembley for all but a few and something that Hammers need to adapt to quickly. It is perhaps understandable given the recent poor run of results coupled with the bad press about segregation and crowd violence, that conspiracy theories are springing up as if the London Stadium has suddenly become Roswell! The media feeding frenzy that descends on clubs experiencing initial difficulties in the Barclays Premier League is such that anything goes, so 'reports' like the one that speculates Dimitri Payet wanted a move away during the summer transfer window and that ther are a raft of hidden injuries affecting Carroll, Byram and others will always gain impetus, ally this to apparent boardroom panic and you have a recipe for discontent. Which is exactly what the media want, it's not rocket science, anger sells! *iss off enough people, ala Adrian Durham, and you get 'traffic', and that is exactly what is happening to all things West Ham at the moment.
Tonight represents the chance to get back to winning ways, not that it will be an easy task, the visitors will be pumped up in the early stages, thus encouraging a cagey game from the home team which might get the crowd on their backs. But if Slaven Billic puts out a strong team, they should eventually overcome Accrington. Reece Oxford has to start this match, it is vital for two reasons namely the need to show that he is wanted and seen as a player who will break in to the first team sooner rather than later, and the fact that the defence has looked ragged and lethargic, totally lacking in the pace needed to track back against lively counter attacking opponents. While we are at it, Ashley Fletcher must play at least some of the match, although Billic may well decide 'Gabor' could do with a bit of extra pitch time, Arbeloa is also expected to start as right back.
Tonight's fixture will be the first game at the London Stadium to feature the 'improved' segregation line between home and away fans, this will come as good news to those supporters with children who have not been able to relocate to a more 'family friendly' area. (there are no direct website links for this facility, only the tedious prospect of waiting in a telephone queue with ticketmaster!) As we have mentioned before, no one has anything against the vast majority of the stewards, most of them are polite young men and women, it is just that they would be overwhelmed if faced with a determined 'army' of away fans.
It is unlikely that there will be anything like the level of animosity between both sets of fans as there was against Watford, but the match itself could still be very nervy! - Ed
