Sir Trevor Brooking says West Ham United can beat Stoke City if they can match the intensity they showed in their memorable EFL Cup win over Chelsea.
The Hammers welcome the in-form Potters to east London looking to bounce back from Sunday’s 2-0 defeat at Everton, and to emulate their outstanding performance in their last appearance at London Stadium.
They loss ended a run of two Premier League wins in a row for Slaven Bilic’s side, while the Potters arrive having collected ten points from their previous four top-flight matches.
Sir Trevor, who will be in his usual seat in the Betway Stand Directors Box among a sell-out 57,000 crowd for Saturday’s game, has kept a close eye on both teams’ progress.
Concentrating first on the Club for whom he made 646 appearances for, scoring 102 goals, and later managed in two caretaker spells, Sir Trevor is looking forward to Slaven Bilic’s team selection.
“It will be interesting to see what team Slaven picks. I thought Michail Antonio did particularly well up front against Chelsea,” he told Evening Standard correspondent and long-time friend Ken Dyer.
“It’s also good to see that Diafra Sakho is coming back because I still think he was the best striker at the club when he was playing well.
“Andre Ayew is also back which is good and it’s just a case with him to see where he fits best in the team.
“We’re certainly playing better defensively but we just need that cutting edge up front.”
However, Sir Trevor knows Mark Hughes’ side can be a tough nut to crack, with captain Ryan Shawcross leading a determined defence.
At the same time, the former England midfielder has been impressed with the Potters’ improved creativity in the attacking third this season.
“Stoke over the last few seasons have become a decent Premier League team and Wilfried Bony scored two against Swansea on Monday night and is experienced at leading the line while Joe Allen has also done well for them,” he observed.
“They had a slow start but they were a side you didn’t think would stay down there.
“It’s fair to say both they and us are both playing better than early in the season and with that win over Swansea on Monday night, they’ve gone above us.
“Perhaps for them, a draw would be decent but we could probably do with a win, principally because of the tough run of games we have coming up after this match.
“When Stoke are playing well it’s not easy to score against them but if we play anything like we did against Chelsea then they will find it tough to contain us.”