Grealish in action
The Hammers are likely to be unchanged and looking to bounce back quickly from the Liverpool defeat when they meet Aston Villa at Villa park tomorrow evening (Wednesday).
The defeat against Liverpool after such an impressive run of wins has hurt the team and Tomas Soucek summed it all up when saying how glad he was to have the chance to put things right quickly.
It will be the Irons’ 22nd match of the season and have they have chance to hit 38 points although that won’t be enough to see them move beyond fifth place even should fourth placed Leicester City lose at Fulham.
The Irons will be looking to record a double over the Villains who – despite that – were probably unlucky to be beaten at the London Stadium in November.
The Irons will be looking for the man in the middle to be keeping a very close eye on a certain Jack Grealish who drew the fury of all Hammers with a shocking display of simulation at the London Stadium on occasions.
For all that, Grealish is a hugely dangerous player and the Hammers midfield duo of Soucek and Declan will need to be at their best to look after him.
Villa beat Saints at St Mary’s over the weekend to complete a Premier League January which saw them record two victories whilst suffering three defeats.
Likely team: Fabianski, Coufal, Dawson, Oggy, Cresswell, Bowen, Rice, Soucek, Fornals, Benrahma, Antonio.
And McGinn, Barkley, Traore and Watkins…😬😬😬
Against Saints, Grealish attacked the left flank, beating two defenders in the corner (for us that would be Coufal and Dawson). I suspect against us they might see the other side as a softer option. Either way, Grealish, Watkins and Barkley are formidable. I hope we get on the front foot from kick-off.
Grealish has remarkable skills and it is unfortunate that he is such a cheat. If he is stymied on the left he will move to the middle. Agree with 3-4-3 but would play Fornals on the left assuming Bowen and Soufal force Grealish to the middle.
Benrhama does not defend well and would learn a lot from the bench, watching Grealish.
The Hammers have shown enormous improvement in many aspects of their game but unless they are given some “energy” formula “drink” before tomorrow night’s game I feel for the worst…. Not only Grealish, but Traore, Barkly and Watkins will cause us endless problems… Would take a point now but fear for the worst with Grealish set to dominate unless Moyes comes up with a change of “tactics”…and definitely better use of our subs!!! We were extremely fortunate to beat Villa at home… Prove me wrong… COYI
I think that to contain Villa and Grealish we should go back to a 3-4-3 which worked well at Leicester
Fab
Dawson Ogbonna Cresswell
Coufal Rice Soucek Johnson
Bowen Antonio Benrahma
Perhaps a bit unfair on Fornals but I feel that would be worth a try
Tend to agree as we have naturally looked tired and its the third tough game in such a short time. DM does like to be unchanged but Johnson in closes gaps when defending. Feel also he must also properly utilise subs to give the hard runners a break.