Thoughts from The Kiwi Hammer: Part IV

As many of you know, I run ‘The Kiwi Hammer’ YouTube Channel, as well as write for the lads at Brace The Hammer. It’s been an enjoyable time running both, however West Ham United continue to surprise me with rumours circulating in the mainstream media. Articles, video ideas, everything, yet some of the rumours in the media have made me somewhat question how good my laughing muscles actually are.

As always, we’ll look at some of these transfer whispers and attempt to figure out which seem realistic targets for the club.

Transfer Whispers:

Photo by Stuart MacFarlane/Arsenal FC via Getty Images

This is just plain interesting.

Arsenal’s Mohamed Elneny and Francis Coquelin have both been labeled as ‘deadwood’ at the Emirates and have been reported to be targets for the Hammers in this months Transfer Window. No surprise as we seem to always be linked with at least one Arsenal player every window. Anyhow, this is one we’ll look at.

Both Elneny and Coquelin have become somewhat fringe players at the Emirates Stadium as Arsene Wenger looks to strengthen positions throughout his squad (probably looking for a return to the Champions League, you see.) These two in the Claret and Blue could be a bit of a gamble, but is it worth it.

Elneny, who joined Arsenal in 2016, has appeared 30 times for the Gunners, while Coquelin, a product from the Arsenal academy, has appeared 105 times, yet neither have been able to land a single goal for the club.

Are they guys worth it?

Next up, Newcastle United’s Jonjo Shelvey has been linked with a move from the North-East to the East End of London in an apparent 12-million pound move. Shelvey, 25, is a West Ham boy and could be another interesting player to be linked with. Will it happen though? Who knows, however Newcastle’s number 8 could be in for some competition as Pedro Obiang, Mark Noble and Cheikhou Kouyate all are vying for places in the West Ham United midfield.

It shall be interesting to see how it goes.

FA Cup Round Four Draw: AFC Bournemouth or Wigan Athletic

Photo by Mike Hewitt/Getty Images

Remember a couple of seasons ago when all we ended up hearing was “Will Grigg’s On Fire?” Well, if our replay with Shrewsbury Town ends in a win for the Hammers, we could end up facing either AFC Bournemouth or Will Grigg and his Wigan Athletic side in Round Four of the Emirates FA Cup, a competition West Ham United have won three times, with 1980 the last FA Cup we won.

It’ll also see us advance further than last season following our 5-0 drubbing at the hands of Manchester City as well. I’m hoping West Ham United are able to advance through to the Fourth Round and I’d love us to play Wigan Athletic in said round, although things would have to go very wrong for AFC Bournemouth as they look to beat Wigan in their replay.

Either way, it should be a rather eventful affair with either club. This season has seen Will Grigg score 11 goals across all competitions (7 for League One, 4 for FA Cup), joint 1st with attacking midfielder Nick Powell.

U23 Development Side beat Manchester United U23 3-0 at Full Time:

Photo by Rob Newell - CameraSport via Getty Images

In a game where West Ham United’s U23’s had a bit of a point to prove against Manchester United’s U23’s, they managed to do just that. The double was ours for the taking, and thanks to Grady Diangana, Toni Martinez and Martin Samuelsen, they did just that.

Diangana’s 51st minute goal opened the scoring for both sides, after a first half with chances for both sides. Then Martinez decided he wanted a small piece of the pie by scoring West Ham’s second just ten minutes later, followed by Martin Samuelsen delivering the knockout punch with an emotional fueled goal in honour of his friend whom is battling with Leukemia.

Speaking to whufc.com, the club’s official website, he said: “I want to take the opportunity to dedicate this goal to one of my oldest and closest friends. He’s fighting cancer. Pedro and Carlos Ballester, that goal was for you.”

The final goal drew an emphatic fist pump from U23 boss Terry Westley and joy to the U23 squad as well as they’d managed to do the double over United this season.

Currently, the West Ham U23 side sit 6th in the Premier League 2 Division 1 table with 20 points. Tottenham Hotspur are rock bottom of the 12 club table with only 9 points thus far, while Liverpool sit on top with 30 points to their name at the moment.

Solid effort from the West Ham United U23 side. Come On You Irons!

Photo by Arfa Griffiths/West Ham United via Getty Images

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