West Ham look certain to be without Kurt Zouma for Wednesday evening near “Mission Impossible ” journey to the Etihad on Wednesday.
It’s the game in hand nobody would want whilst stranded close to the bottom of a League which now looks set to be lifted by Pep Guardiola’s outfit who can go four points clear of Arsenal at the top with a win.
Kurt Zouma
They beat Fulham 1-2 at Craven Cottage today despite being without Kevin De Bruyne who is also very likely to be out of the team on Wednesday.
It seems certain that David Moyes will set up defensively as he bids for a point but the absence of Zouma would be a brutal blow.
Whether he has the players able to give City a game after using essentially the same team over three games is another big question but our bet is he will go very much with what we have seen before.
Here’s what we consider his likely team: Fabianski, Coufal, Kehrer, Aguerd, Creswell; Rice, Soucek; Paqueta, Benrahma, Bowen, Antonio.
Why would we play a full strength team against city. Absolutely madness. The players need acrest so we prepare for United. Firstly we need to go to a back 5 and play a 5-3-1-1 system. Team would be Areola, Coufal, Kehrer, Ogbonna, Aguerd, Cresswell or Emerson (all these players have had breaks recently). My midfield would be Downes Lanzini and Paquera with Fornals in behind either Cornet or Divan. Please no more ings up top on his own.
Going with that line-up it’ll be 80-20% possession and playing most of the match in our own half. We don’t have any speed in defence against the quickest, trickiest midfield and attack known to man. No Johnson, Downes , Lanzini or Mubama. We should have a better chance of points on Sunday and not to forget Thursday week.
If picks that side you think he will Hugh . He needs certified he has to make huge changes or we can forget the Alkmaar game .
If we play Cresswell. City will fly down his wing constantly. Other Players will be forced to cover and we will lose by a large amount of goals. So we better all say a prayer he doesn’t, better to play with ten men and leave him at home.
Fair comment: not the game in hand you want.
Moyes must recognise the players are drained and make multiple changes for the trip to Citeh.
Set the team up with 10 defender/midfielders and hope to keep the score down ro a mild humping and save the energy of the crucial players for Sunday.