Strikers who average better than a goal every other start do not grow on trees. West Ham United, indebted to the ageless Callum Wilson, know that better than most.
When the Hammers signed Wilson after his Newcastle deal expired in July, the Londoners had seldom felt more likely to bring that so-called ‘striker curse’ upon themselves. As if they had cracked up Tutankhamun’s tomb itself and breathed in the dust straight from source.
Callum Wilson had missed over 100 matches due to injury in five years at St James’ Park.
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Now, West Ham United have endured their fair share of centre-forward failings. Wilson to West Ham, then, was one of those deals which seemed destined to go down in folklore for all the wrong reasons.
The claret-and-blue cynics have never been happier to be proven wrong.
Callum Wilson to emulate Demba Ba feat at West Ham United
Wilson became the first striker in recorded Hammers history to score two stoppage-time winners in the same Premier League season when he popped up at the back post against Everton on Saturday, three months after doing similar to Tottenham.
Furthermore, should he keep up his current record, Wilson will be the first striker since cult hero Demba Ba in 2010/11 to average a goal in more than 50 per cent of his Premier League starts.
Ba, before going on to lead the line at Newcastle and Chelsea, did his very best to keep heads above water during the ill-fated Avram Grant era. A January loan signing from Hoffenheim, Ba plundered seven goals in just ten Premier League starts; the club’s top scorer despite an eventual 20th place finish.
Wilson’s own record, 15 years on, stands at six goals in ten starts.
Jesse Lingard would rack up nine in 16 during a stellar loan spell of his own, of course. But in terms of centre-forwards, only Ba and Wilson have found the net in more than 50 per cent of their West Ham and Premier League starts since records began.
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Alan Pardew does not understand the criticism 🤷♂️
Diafra Sakho came close, with 18 in 40 starts between 2014 and 2018. Dean Ashton could have become England’s number nine, former teammate Marlon Harewood claimed recently, if not for a career-ending injury which prevented him from adding to his tally of 15 goals in 33 top-flight starts.
Wilson, of course, has been there and done that. Nine caps for the Three Lions, and two international goals to show for his efforts.
For now, a striker who has battled with countless injury fears of his own, is making the prospect of Premier League survival feel increasingly possible. Something Demba Ba, for all his excellence in front of goal, never achieved.
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