Hammers at near full strength today

Craig Dawson and Tomas Soucek will be missing from  a near full-strength 23-man squad which goes to Reading for today’s pre season clash.

Both have what the manager has described as minor niggles and a cl;ub insider declared that nothing “sinister ” should be seen in the Czech defensive midfielder’s absence.

The manager is likely to give  Nayef Aguerd his debut appearance at the at the Select Car Leasing Stadium.

France goalkeeper Alphonse Areola could make his first appearance since completing a permanent transfer from Paris Saint-Germain, while midfielder Flynn Downes is set to appear for a second time after playing his first game at Ipswich Town on Tuesday evening.

Declan Rice

The Club’s senior internationals are also back in action, with England duo Declan Rice and Jarrod Bowen, Croatia’s Nikola Vlašić and Czech Republic right-back Vladimír Coufal all set to make their first appearances of the pre-season in Berkshire after playing UEFA Nations League football for their respective countries last month.

England U21 international full-back Ben Johnson also returns after representing his country in UEFA European Championship qualifiers in June.

ClaretandHugh says: Now it starts to get a little more serious as the pre-season heads towards a far more intense period. Reading today is followed by Glasgow Rangers on the 19th before we head for Luton Town next weekend and RC Lens ahead of the new season. We made a point in asking about tofay’s Soucek’s absence of course and it certainly seems  that he does indeed have a minor niggle rather than the manager excluding from his plans following speculation about his future.

 

About Hugh5outhon1895

Hugh Southon is a lifelong Iron and the founding editor of ClaretandHugh. He is a national newspaper journalist of many years experience and was Bobby Moore's 'ghost' writer during the great man's lifetime. He describes ClaretandHugh as "the Hammers daily newspaper!" Follow on Twitter @hughsouthon