Snodgrass is the man AFCB have to stop

I was watching the game between West Ham and Chelsea and although the Blues won fairly comfortably, I was impressed with the early strength of the Hammers and the crossing ability of Robert Snodgrass down the left. While Snodgrass' move from Hull City seemed a bit of a strange one at the time, there is no doubt that he is a quality Premier League player who has fitted in extremely well at the London Stadium - despite some of West Ham's own fans arguing that he does not do enough. We don't need him to be any more motivated to play well thanks!

The Cherries' player that I'd expect to be detailed to look after Snodgrass is Adam Smith. Adam has had some quieter games of late. He has had good reason not to make quite so many forward runs with the team conceding two or three goals a game, but up at Old Trafford he played well enough to keep Anthony Martial at bay. Still, I always feel that Smith looks stretched and often has to go down to get a decision at times.

Adam Smith is likely to be on Snodgrass duties.

I do see Adam as one of the bravest of AFCB's players though. What he lacks in power and strength against the strongest players he makes up with raw courage. Against Snodgrass he should be fairly evenly match in terms of stature and it is important that he doesn't allow Snodgrass to get those crosses in to Andy Carrol in the box. He'll have to do that by sticking tight and I'm sure Smith probably has the pace to beat him in a sprint.

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What we don't want to see is any moments of madness from Adam. He was perhaps unlucky to give away a penalty up at Old Trafford, but he has a habit of slipping up at the wrong moment. I did like his face that was full of innocence for the penalty at Man Utd, but AFCB did well to get a penalty themselves at that ground and most decisions tend to go in favour of United in front of their home fans. What we need is some composure from Smith and a good shape at the back. When he gets the chance though I expect he'll know he can exploit Snodgrass who won't track back that often.

AFCB Possible team
Boruc (GK), A Smith (RD), Francis (CD), S Cook (CD), Daniels (LD), Fraser (RM), Arter (CD), Gosling (CM), Pugh (LM), Wilshere (FW), King (FW)

Subs

Allsop (GK), B Smith (LD), Cargill (CD), Gradel (LM), Ibe (RM), Afobe (FW), Mousset (L)

If Lewis Cook is available I'd expect him to be in the squad, as AFCB are light in central midfielders, but I've heard no news about him in the last two or three weeks. 

Refs are getting frightened to give penalties these days

Roger East will have felt the weight of fans' frustrations after his display at Stoke City. It is a very difficult job and on this day he made a big mistake that luckily did not change the outcome of the game for AFCB.  Callum Wilson is not going to think much of the Bet365 stadium with his recent visits there, but Roger East could have made it a better day if he had got this early decision right.

Referees are under so much scrutiny that I believe they are prone to take the safe option not to give a penalty if at all possible. Stoke had been on the wrong end of decisions earlier in the season, but they certainly got away with one in this match. I suppose fans and managers will never be happy whether there are a high number or low number of penalties in a season, so a referee just has to give a gut instinct decision and while that is not always going to be perfect, it is the clear fouls that are not seen that really annoy. There have been some innocuous penalties given for holding in the box this season, but the thought of players diving for penalties is firmly in referees' minds now and they don't want to blow up every time a striker goes down in the box. What Eddie Howe pointed out was that if Callum's run was not a penalty, then he was accusing Wilson of diving so why wasn't the forward booked?

Eddie Howe thought Roger East got both penalty decisions wrong in the Stoke City game.

Frustrating as that is, it is always worse when the other team are awarded a penalty for a innocuous challenge that was simply a misplaced foot from Simon Francis, on the top of Bojan's foot, when the attacker was headed out of the box, and away from goal. It was really a double insult to those travelling Bournemouth fans, but that's football. We don't like it, but nobody can change it when it happens.

Penalties are always contentious and game defining in close games, and while the thickness of the bar came to AFCB's rescue it was a game that didn't deserve to be ruined by penalties as some of the football from both sides was excellent. Ref's have to make decisions though and while they are the main decision-maker, both teams are always going to try and influence that decision. Some you win and some you lose. But I only hope in his next game Roger East is not influenced himself by what happened in this game and just calls every incident as he sees it - that is all we can ask of referees.

Finally, I was horrified to hear what Jordan Ibe had gone through in being held up by knifepoint recently and I hope he feel safe. If players are targeted then the fans will not be able to get near them and I pray this and the Andy Caroll incident are never repeated.

What's happened to Hammer's early away form?

West Ham were top of the charts early season for away wins with successful days against Arsenal, Liverpool and Man City. With that kind of record it must have been a joy to be a West Ham fan and yet of late they have struggled a bit on their travels with their last three away fixtures result in draws. That does not sound to bad until you see that two of those matches were against Swansea and Aston Villa. The other match was against Man Utd and for that game they had Andy Carroll back but he has been finding it easier to score at home.

West Ham players at Upton Park when they played AFCB earlier this season.

Sadly for AFCB, West Ham will have much more firepower up front than they had against Swansea and Aston Villa. Andy Carroll is the striker that Steve Cook and Tommy Elphick will probably have to play extremely well against if they are to stop the Hammers from improving their return of away points. There are not many players like him in the Premier League and if he is supplied well with deep crosses he rarely misses more than one chance in the air. AFCB have to try and stop his supply or they will be bullied out of the game.

It may have taken West Ham and Slaven Bilic a few games to see his side get the best out of Carroll, but I can't help thinking they would be even higher in the table if they had not had injuries to Carroll and Dimitri Payet and Chiekou Kuyate. They'll be strong throughout the team with the likes of Mark Noble, Alex Song, Michail Antonio and Manuel Lanzini, so it is a match where AFCB will need to be physically up for the challenge.

It is noteworthy that West Ham have scored no more than two goals in their last five away games.
If they can find the speed of attack that they hit Liverpool on the break with in their last home match they will have a chance of getting something at Dean Court, but if we get the kind of performance that they put in against Swansea at the Liberty stadium then the Cherries could find that West Ham are the first side that they do the double against this season.

AFCB's defence has also tightened up in the last few home games as well conceding five goals in their last four at Dean Court and three of those came in the Everton 3-3 draw. 

Now that Slaven Bilic has players coming back though this is just as hard a game as the last home match had against Crystal Palace.

West Ham Away Form
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AFCB Home Form
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You can also read my latest article on  the Shoot website - Afobe can make a name for himself like Vardy and Ighalo


So what's your score prediction for tonights game? Send them in on Twitter to @PeterBell19 & follow.

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