Bottom of the league Sunderland head south to face West Ham on Saturday.
Sunderland striker Jermain Defoe has told the Sunderland Echo that he is still wary of his former club West Ham, despite their stuttering start.
The Black Cats head to the London Stadium in search of their first win of the season where they will face a Hammers side whose season has not started the way they had planned either, but Defoe believes they still pose a massive threat.
Sunderland’s Jermain Defoe
“You could say they have gone backwards a little bit from last season,” Defoe told the Sunderland Echo.
“They’ve not started this time like they did last year, but if you look at the great individual players they have got, they can create things out of nothing.”
Slaven Bilic’s side returned to winning ways last time out against Crystal Palace with a 1-0 win, and will see the home game against Sunderland as the perfect opportunity to cure their woes on home soil.
Crystal Palace’s Jason Puncheon in action with West Ham United’s Dimitri Payet
With players like Dimitri Payet and Manuel Lanzini, combined with the Black Cats’ dysfunctional back four, West Ham will know that they can cause real problems for David Moyes; side, who sit bottom of the Premier League with just two points.
After a sensational start to last season, it was always going to be difficult for West Ham to replicate those achievements, but would have hoped to be doing slightly better after eight Premier League games.
While West Ham may have gone slightly backwards, they can take huge strides forward with a win over Sunderland on Saturday.
Fans walking outside the stadium
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