Carroll’s lack of goals with London opposition no good to West Ham

Andy Carroll’s early return from injury is a big positive for West Ham, but his lack of goals against London opposition does not offer much hope of a comeback goal at Loftus Road.

Carroll has only been on the winning side in four of his last 15 Premier League meetings with London opposition, failing to find the target in each of the last 13.

His last goal against such opposition was when scoring the only goal at Emirates to hand Newcastle a 1-0 triumph over Arsenal back in November 2010.

Therefore, although he is back two weeks earlier than expected after injuring a hamstring on his West Ham debut, it is unlikely that it will bring with it a positive result.

Carroll is 6/1 to open the scoring at QPR, but given his injury status, logic would suggest that he will begin from the substitute’s bench.

Therefore, punters may prefer to take the 2/1 that he nets at any time in the 90 minutes or even the 6/1 that he is on target last in the London derby.

The good news for West Ham is that Carroll fitted seamlessly in with their style when making his debut and because of this, Sam Allardyce is sure to turn to him at some point against QPR.

However, with goals on his last two starts, Allardyce may stick with Modibo Maiga in attack and he may prove the better Hammers option at 9/1 to break the deadlock.

West Ham are 11/5 to win at QPR and may also be able to start Yossi Benayoun, who has only been used from the bench since returning to the club before the closing of the transfer window.

Benayoun is a tempting 5/1 to score at any time and 14/1 to grab the opener.

All odds and markets correct as of publication

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