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West Ham are back in Premier League action after the international break
West Ham find themselves in the Premier League drop zone along with Nottingham Forest and Wolves after their first 11 fixtures. They won 3-2 at home to Burnley in their last outing though before the international break. Callum Wilson, Tomas Soucek and Kyle Walker-Peters got their goals against the Clarets at the London Stadium.
Nuno Espirito Santo’s side have won their last two matches on the bounce and are only inside the bottom three on goal difference. They are back in action next weekend as they look to keep their momentum going. The Hammers face an away trip to AFC Bournemouth.
West Ham defender Aaron Wan-Bissaka’s World Cup hope
West Ham full-back Wan-Bissaka played the full 90 minutes for the Democratic Republic of the Congo as they struck late to beat Cameroon 1-0 in their latest World Cup outing to keep their qualification hopes alive at the at Al Barid Stadium in Rabat, Morocco. The game was 0-0 after full-time in the in the semi-finals of the CAF qualifying second round. DR Congo then managed to secure the win and will be relieved to have got through.
Elsewhere, Soucek scored for Czech Republic as they saw off San Marino 1-0 in a friendly in Karviná. The midfielder also missed a penalty in the game. Speaking afterwards, he said: "I'm happy with the result, but I wanted us to score more goals, and I think we had chances to do that. I didn't score a penalty, and I'm sorry about that. Overall, we have to be more effective in front of goal, and we'll try to do that in our next game."
West Ham attacker Jarrod Bowen left out by England
England left West Ham skipper Jarrod Bowen on the bench against Serbia. They won 2-0 in their latest World Cup qualifying clash at Wembley after goals by Arsenal pair Bukayo Saka and Eberechi Eze. The Three Lions have already booked their place for the World Cup in USA, Canada and Mexico next year.
Thomas Tuchel’s side face an away trip to Albania on Sunday and Bowen will be looking to get some minutes after being an unused substitute in their last game. Following their latest victory, former Chelsea manager Tuchel said: “It was a difficult match. It was complicated because they knew everything about us and we knew nothing about them. Go through the list of players, they are at top clubs, they play in top leagues. They have individual quality, they came with new energy and they made it a final for them.
“I liked the first half a lot. I think we deserved to go up, I think we deserved to have maybe a second goal with Harry's header. Second-half, we didn't get the pressing right all the time, they escaped sometimes from the deep build-up into fast attacks so the back four had to work hard to keep the clean sheet. We had to overcome some difficult moments but I like it, not everything is easy. Not every win is 2-0, 3-0, 5-0. It is good. We kept a clean sheet and it was decisive in the end.”
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