Dowie Believes Allardyce Would Be Happy With Spurs Match

The former West Ham United player, Iain Dowie, has said that Sam Allardyce would be very happy to face Tottenham Hotspur first up during the 2014-15 Premier League

The performance of West Ham United against Tottenham Hotspur in the last season was quite good. They had defeated the Spurs three times, twice in the Premier League and once in the Capital One Cup.

The win that West Ham secured against Tottenham at White Hart Lane towards the end of the last year was their first at that venue in more than a decade.

Now, the FA has given the Hammers an early opportunity to continue their good form against Tottenham by slotting their first league game of the upcoming season against the North Londoners.

Allardyce Future Decided Next Week

The future of Sam Allardyce as the head coach of West Ham remains unclear as there are a few meetings which are expected to place in the next few days or even weeks concerning the future of Allardyce and Stewart Downing is hoping that the English coach remains in his current position for the years to come.

“I hope that performance puts to bed all the speculation about the manager. When you lose games, the manager takes most of the criticism but I think he’s handled it really well, in difficult circumstances at times. “We would love him to stay, he’s part of the reason why I came to the club but obviously the owners make all those decisions’’.

DOWNING MAKING IT HARD

From Liverpool winger Stewart Downing has said that he wants his West Ham team to make it extremely hard for Liverpool when they visit Upton Park during the weekend. The table leaders will be coming to the ground on the back of eight straight victories, which makes them favourites for the title.

However, Downing is planning to upset the celebrations for Liverpool by getting one over his former team. The former Aston Villa man played for a couple of years at Liverpool before joining West Ham on a permanent deal. He was once a £ 20 million signing for the club.

THREE WAY FIGHT

With less than 3 months remaining until the conclusion of the Premier League, the title is being fought out between Chelsea, Liverpool, Arsenal and Manchester City but some other clubs are fighting just to stay out of the bottom relegation zone, which is the case of West Ham United.

West Ham United has recently suffered defeats against Manchester United Stoke City and Everton which has disabled them from getting into the top 10 spots of the English league but according to Stewart Downing, he believes the squad is capable on ending the league on the higher section of the standings.

WEST HAM AIM HIGHER

West Ham are scraping the bottom spots of the Premier League and while they have not been going through the best of seasons, Stewart Downing is confident and optimistic about the head coach Sam Allardyce as he can still the club from relegation, according to the English midfielder.

“The easiest thing is to blame the manager because he’s at the top. I think he does very well at that, he takes a lot of the pressure off the players but he’s one of the reasons why I came here. If you look at it as a whole we’ve been very unlucky. It’s up to us. The manager picks the team but it’s up to us to get the results.

HAMMER BLOW

West Ham United were dealt a blow with the news that Stewart Downing admits as much as 10 weeks of action after suffering a huge cut in his calf.

However, manager Sam Allardyce is pleased to report that the injury is not as severe as initially feared and that the midfielder is more likely to miss around four weeks of action. Even then it will be a huge blow for the team, who are fighting against relegation. West Ham have found it difficult to score goals this campaign and it has largely been due to injury to Andy Carroll.

MISSING CHANCES

Former Liverpool and Aston Villa winger Stewart Downing has said that his team were guilty of missing chances that cost them the 3-0 defeat against Chelsea. West Ham took on the West Londoners in London derby at Upton Park.

It was expected to be a very tough match for Chelsea given that they have struggled this ground in recent years, but they managed a quite comfortable 3-0 win. They did not have to stretch themselves throughout the encounter because West Ham offered little in front of goal.

Downing has said that this was largely due to West Ham’s inefficiency in front of goal. They had a couple of chances to be ahead in the match, but failed to take it. Sam Allardyce came into the match without his first choice striker Andy Carroll fit for the encounter.

NEEDING FITNESS

West Ham United’s new signing Stewart Downing has admitted that he is probably not right up there as far as fitness is concerned, but, he is looking to make the most of each and every opportunity that comes his way.

Downing signed for West Ham United last month after leaving Liverpool. The transfer fee is yet to be revealed, but, it is reported to be close to 5 million Pounds.

The 29 years old left back got his first starting opportunity at West Ham last weekend in the game against Newcastle United. That match ended as a goalless draw, but, Downing’s outing was impressive and he might be given another go in Tuesday’s game against Cheltenham Town.

HAMMER TIME

West Ham have completed the signing of England midfielder Stewart Downing from Liverpool for a fee of around £ 6 million. He becomes the second major English arrival at the club following the signing of Andy Carroll a few weeks ago. Carroll was also signed from Liverpool, but he cost around £ 15 million.

Downing will be expected to supply the ammunition for Carroll, who thrives on crosses. Downing has endured a difficult time in football since his £ 20 million move to Liverpool from Aston Villa a few seasons ago.

MIGNOLET TIPPED TO JOIN

Liverpool is close to signing the Sunderland goalkeeper Simon Mignolet. According to the reports, both the clubs have reached an agreement on the transfer fee.

Now, Mignolet just has to go through the medical test and his signing will be confirmed.

Mignolet was one of the few Sunderland players who were impressive in the last season. The 25 years old Belgian goalkeeper kept more than 10 clean sheets in 40 matches.

Mignolet will be the 4th player to be signed by Liverpool this season. The other three signings are Lago Aspas (Celta Vigo), Kolo Toure (Manchester City) and Luis Alberto (Sevilla).