PREVIEW: Norwich City v West Ham

Sam Allardyce spoke of his frustration earlier this week that his players aren’t helping out with goal scoring duties while we suffer a striker crisis.

And he’s got a point when you look back at how many players from across the field netted for the Hammers last season, with four Premier League goals coming from defenders and an impressive 25 from midfield.

The story has been a lot different so far this season, though, with the side regularly struggling to find the net, despite creating a number of goal scoring chances each game.

But Allardyce is also right in saying that as soon as we start scoring regularly we’ll be climbing the league table. Six clean sheets from our opening ten Premier League games is almost unheard of for us, so it’s perhaps typical that we’re lacking at the other end of the pitch now. But we’re West Ham and nothing ever goes to plan for us, so we’re just going to have to deal with it and wait for all of this to blow over.

Winston Reid picked up a concerning ankle injury earlier this week and will miss this and probably the next five weeks if reports from New Zealand are true. His absence is a huge blow but we’re lucky that James Collins has recovered from his injury in time to step straight in as his replacement.

We have fairly good record against Norwich City, but it could be argued that we’re playing at the wrong time after their 7-0 hammering at the hands of Manchester City last weekend. Chris Hughton will be demanding a response from his players and they’ll want to give their fans something to cheer about for once at Carrow Road.

That said, we have more than enough to come away from Carrow Road with all three points. Our away form this season has been refreshing you can expect that to remain the same this weekend. But for that to happen we’re going to need big performances from Ravel Morrison, James Collins, James Tomkins and skipper Kevin Nolan.

At the end of the day, we can’t really afford to lose this game. It’s a classic six-pointer that neither side will want to leave empty handed from.

Verdict: We’ll avoid defeat.

Team News:

Norwich City (18th, 8 points)

Midfielder Robert Snodgrass returns to the side after suffering concussion a few weeks ago against Manchester United.

Summer arrival Ricky Van Wolfswinkel is still sidelined with a toe injury, while Nathan Redmond will also miss out with a hip problem.

West Ham United (15th, 10 points)

Winston Reid is out with an ankle injury, but James Collins has overcome a hamstring injury to replace him.

Mladen Petric (calf), Andy Carroll (heel) and Ricardo Vaz Te (shoulder) are all long-term absentees for the Hammers.

Last 10 meetings: 

Match in Numbers:

15 – Norwich are unbeaten in their last 15 home league meetings with the Hammers.

20 – The Canaries have shipped 20 goals in the Premier League so far this season, with only Crystal Palace leaking more (21).

6 – West Ham have failed to score in six of their opening ten Premier League games, which is the highest in the division.

2 – Ravel Morrison has scored with both of his shots on target so far this season.

6 – Norwich have been losing at half-time six times this season, which is more than any other side.

4 – All four of West Ham’s draws this season have ended goalless.

6 – Jussi Jaaskelainen’s record of six Premier League clean sheets this season is bettered only by Spurs keeper Hugo Lloris (7).

Head-to-Head (all competitions):