Defoe will hope his side’s fortunes change when they travel to one of his old clubs this weekend.
Sunderland striker Jermain Defoe believes that the Black Cats can use the expectations of West Ham fans to work against their opponents this weekend when they travel to the London Stadium, the Chronicle reports.
Defoe and his teammates are going in search of their first Premier League win of the season when they travel to the forward’s old club, as they look to improve on their record of two points from their first eight Premier League games this season, which leaves them bottom of the table.
West Ham have not been without their fair share of trouble themselves, and were in the bottom three until last weekend where they managed to win 1-0 away at Crystal Palace to move themselves up into 15th and ease the pressure slightly.
Defoe is quoted in the Chronicle saying: “The West Ham fans expect so much from the team, especially at home and after the standards they set last season.
“We can use that to our advantage, just go there and be relaxed, be confident, compact and don’t let them score. Just focus on not letting the other team score, and if we score we score, and if we don’t we don’t. We get a point.”
The teething problems that West Ham have had at their new home are well documented. They have only managed to win one of their home league games so far this season, and coming off the back of a really strong season last term, expectations are a little higher – and they will be expected to kick on from a good result last weekend.
The problem with Sunderland’s plan is that they cannot seem to keep a clean sheet at the moment and continue to leak goals. It will be a big blow if they fail to get something from this game having lost out to fellow strugglers Stoke City last weekend.
The chances are that if Sunderland are to come away with anything from this weekend’s game, it will involve Defoe finding the net against his old side at some point.
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