Mateus Fernandes, West Ham United’s former Sporting Lisbon starlet, knows one member of the Burnley team pretty well.
As the Hammers make their final preparations for Saturday’s 3pm kick-off at Turf Moor – Nuno Espirito Santo faces Scott Parker knowing that a win will take his side to within three points of Nottingham Forest in 17th – the £40 million summer signing is set to face off against an old teammate.
An old teammate who was linked with a move to West Ham United himself not so long ago.
How would you feel if Nuno picks THIS team to face Burnley? ⚒️
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A year before Mateus Fernandes made the switch from Southampton to East London, Marcus Edwards was reportedly a target for the Hammers.
According to Portuguese publication Record in June 2024, talks had been held with the Tottenham Hotspur academy graduate. Edwards would join Burnley instead a few months later with Crysencio Summerville making the trip to East London instead; initially on loan and then for a permanent fee of around £9 million once Parker had added a third promotion to his managerial CV.
So while West Ham come face-to-face with Armando Broja, the striker they once bid £30 million for, and as three-time Hammer of the Year Scott Parker looks to get one over his old employers, the likely presence of Marcus Edwards on the Burnley team sheet could make for intriguing viewing.
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Mateus Fernandes warns West Ham United about Burnley winger Marcus Edwards
Edwards has just one goal and two assists in the Premier League this term. All of those have come in the last six weeks, though, including an equaliser during the 1-1 draw away to Liverpool.
Hammers News believe Nuno will select El Hadji Malick Diouf to start at left-back over Ollie Scarles. While Diouf will be tasked with providing those tantalising deliveries from the flank – he has not actually provided a single assist since Nuno replaced Graham Potter – the squirrel-on-a-telephone-wire dribbling of Edwards should give the AFCON champion plenty to think about at the other end.
“Every team has good players. I played with and against some guys who are now playing in Burnley, I know them and they have quality,” says Fernandes, who also knows Lesley Ugochukwu from Southampton and former Benfica enforcer Florentino Luis from the Primeira Liga.
“I played with Lesley, I played with Marcus, I played against Florentino in Portugal, so I know they have a good team and a strong team.
“So, we need to focus on our team, with control, and try to be ready for everything. Even if we concede a goal, we need to go again because we need to win. This is more important than anything.
“Like I said, even Burnley have a good team [so] we try to focus on the next game. It doesn’t matter about the other games. We try to focus on this game against Burnley and try to win to rise and then recover for Manchester United [at home next Tuesday evening].”
Fernandes has a taste for goals after Sunderland stunner
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But what do you think?
Mateus Fernandes scored a screamer against Sunderland in West Ham’s last Premier League victory a fortnight ago. After scoring a first headed goal in the 2-1 loss at Leeds in October, this was a first career effort from outside the box.
“I try to focus on scoring goals in my training sessions,” the Portugal Under-21 captain adds. “I think what’s important for me was my first goal outside of the box. It was a thing I tried to do last season at Southampton, but I never scored. I stay after training sessions working on this.
“My teammates told me, ‘You have good shots, why don’t you shoot?’. I tried [against Sunderland and] I was lucky! I tried a second time and hit the crossbar. I’ll try in the next game for sure, because I’m believing more now that I can score. I hope to score more goals like this!”
Martin Dubravka, you have been warned.
“I know I need to do much more, not just goals but assists as well,” he admits, Fernandes providing only two assists in 21 starts. “I need to help my teammates defending and attacking and try to be the best player that I can be. It’s about this.
“I try to speak about this with my close friends, with my close circle, because I think I can do much better with the goals and assists as well, and I will do for sure!”
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