Fit again Samir Nasri knows he will be made to fight for a place in the team with so many players returning from the sidelines.

The 31 year old of course may now be forced to live in the long shadow of Manuel Lanzini who has been so impressive so quickly since he made his comeback.

It probably means that the summer short term signing will be making more regular appearances as a sub although there’s the intriguing possibility that he could even feature in the same X1.

The boss said recently that he would love to play the likes of Nasri, Anderson and Manu in the same side so it remains to be seen whether he will do that with the team now safe for another season.

Whether he does or doesn’t it is now a certainty the boss will hold onto him for another year given his love of such players and the injury issues surrounding Jack Wilshere.

Commenting on the squad to www.whufc.com Samir said: It’s good for the manager to have many, many options because, at the end of the day, we all look to achieve the same thing and be in the top seven of the league.

“This week it can be me, the next week it can be another player. When I came in I played well, then I got an injury and now Manu has come back and is performing well, as is Snoddy, so I just think we have to push each other every day to bring the best out of each other.”

Samir  spoke to  Patrice Evra, who was with the club last season telling him he was surprised by the level of the training.

He said: “I knew some of the players from before, but I didn’t expect the quality and intensity to be that high. Patrice agreed and said the training at West Ham was more difficult than at Marseille, who reached the final of the Europa League when he was there.

“That’s the conclusion that he made and that’s what I realised too. The level was and is really impressive.

“Now we’re playing a certain way and getting results and I think it’s an exciting end to the season.”