Forum | General Discussion

Having trained with the senior squad all week West Ham starlet Reece Oxford, much coveted by Mourinho at Manchester United, Guardiola at Manchester City and not forgetting Conte at Chelsea, seems set to start the televised crunch match against Southampton at the London Stadium on Sunday. A big stadium needs big players to fill it out and make it intimidating for visiting teams, Oxford is a big time player, he may be young, but he has the aura of impending greatness! Of course it could all go wrong for the 17 year old England player, football is littered with players of great potential who have fallen by the way side, but young Reece has a certain charisma that raises him head and shoulders over most youngsters, that and a maturity that belies his age, Slaven Billic was brave enough to use him for the memorable away win over Arsenal at the Emirates last season, and it appears he has decided to stop 'wrapping oxford up in cotton wool' and unleash him in to the Barclays Premier League with all the piranha's and pitfalls he was trying to protect him from. Needs must, and West Ham need inspiration at the moment, and what better way than to bring 'one of our own' in to the fold? If he gets monstered by the opposition forwards he will learn, and to be honest he can't do much worse than those who have been playing recently! - Ed

Dimitri Payet's dramatic last minute super strike that finally sunk Accrington Stanley has earned the club a home tie against Chelsea in the next round of the EFL cup. As expected the visitors treated the match as if it was the EFL final itself and gave Slaven Billic more than a headache or two to deal with, in the end he had to bring on his big guns to ensure a hard fought victory. Things were looking decidedly bleak with extra time beckoning and Hammers down to ten men after Authur Masuaku was forced off the pitch through injury with all the substitutes having already been used. The Accrington goal resembled the Alamo in the final 15 minutes of the match, Antonio, Lanzini, Zaza and Ogbonna all came close to scoring as stamina became an issue for the lower league club, which was just as well for the home side because the visitors came close to creating an upset on numerous occasions earlier on, but cometh the hour and cometh the man. The last minute, a free kick awarded, the crowd await with baited breath, up steps the man....Bang! Accrington hearts broken, cue wild delirium in the London Stadium and a thunderous rendition of "we've got Payet'! Followed by a rousing rendition of Bubbles. A win is a win is a win! - Ed pass the aspirin!
NB: The EFL ties will be held from October the 24th onwards, with exact dates to be announced once the broadcasters choose their 'marquee' matches, which means you can guarantee West Ham v Chelsea will be one of the matches to be shown live.