Irons Confirm Soucek Appeal-Coufal Angry With Dean!

Vlad the 'Impaler' Coufal waits to have a word with Mike 'Pearl &' Dean

It will come as no surprise that West Ham have confirmed their appeal against Tomas Soucek's red card, the 'sanction' was inexplicably issued to him by referee Mike 'Pearl &' Dean in injury time of the drab draw against Barclays Premier League strugglers Fulham FC.

Looking at the game from afar it would have been difficult to tell which team was 5th in the table, and which team was 18th! Essentially Fulham played the pants of the Irons and were unlucky not to emerge as 3-1 winners, but when you are down near the bottom of the league things don't tend to go well.

The Fulham game was the sort of match that West Ham would have lost last season, Fulham are fighting for their top flight survival and as such would have been expected to put a shift in, that is perhaps why David Moyes got 'all defensive' early on in the 2nd half. Seeing that his players looked exactly like a team that had played a ridiculous amount of games in a short space of time, Moyes elected to bring on the most unlikely trio of players to 'see the game out' in order to attain a clean sheet and ONE point.

When Yarmolenko, Noble and Fredericks were brought on the die was cast for an 'ugly' remainder of the match, but if Vlad the impaler's header had gone in and not hit the bar, then the Irons would have emerged with a very undeserved three points.

Big Mich Anrtonio looked absolutely cream crackered and is a player who looks like he really needs a bit of time off to fully recuperate from his almost constant hamstring issues, Declan Rice looked exhausted as did the most of the team, and Lingard was as anonymous against Fulham as he was conspicuous against Villa.

The team will have a six day 'break' between the 5th round FA Cup tie at Old Trafford on Tuesday, and the Barclays Premier League game against Sheffield United on the following Monday evening. Those six days will feel like a fortnight for those players who have literally run themselves in to the ground, and it not just West Ham who are affected. With few exceptions, ALL the teams in the top flight are feeling the pressure, which is reflected in some of the 'polarised' results attained by teams recently.

Jesse Lingard will have the luxury of an added rest, as he is unable to play against his 'bad parenthood' club in the FA Cup, his freshness will be needed against a Sheffield United team that is coming in to some real form of late, games against teams in the relegation zone are always tetchy affairs that can go either way, so anyone looking at the Irons' forthcoming fixtures with the assumption of the club attaining three points from clubs in the dreaded drop zone should be mindful that these impending fixtures are definitely NOT three point bankers, far from it!

Hammers fans have been getting a little bit ahead of themselves with their level of expectancy recently, is should be remembered that Hammers have probably the frailest of squads among those in the top six positions and have been punching above their weight from the get go, with the exception of the dreadful opening game of the season against Newcastle.

Don't expect too much, and you might find yourself pleasantly rewarded. - Ed