Slaven Bilic could be forced to change his team with Mark Noble facing a late fitness test ahead of this evening’s fixture against Manchester United.
Manuel Lanzini and Pedro Obiang are likely to earn a recall to the starting lineup after the loss against Leicester City two days ago. Diafra Sakho, James Collins, Alvaro Arbeloa, Arthur Masuaku and Gokhan Tore remain injured and unavailable.
Andrew Ayew and Cheik Kouyate have been given special permission to play today and will join AFCON training camps tomorrow. Sofiane Feghouli is also available after failing to be selected for Algeria in the AFCON finals.
For Manchester United, defender Eric Bailly has already departed for the Africa Cup of Nations with Ivory Coast after being refused permission to play today. Former Hammer Michael Carrick has a chance of returning in midfield after missing the win over Middlesbrough with illness but Wayne Rooney is unlikely to be back from thigh trouble.
Daley Blind could miss out through injury after he was substituted in the second half against Middlesbrough but Anthony Martial is fit despite taking a heavy knock before scoring United’s equaliser. Timothy Fosu-Mensah, Ashley Young and Matteo Darmian are in line to feature after they were left out on Saturday. Bastian Schweinsteiger is set to drop out of the squad despite being named on the bench at the weekend.
Let us hope that Noble’s injury is as slow to heal as he is ! We are a much better team without him …quicker , more mobile and ball retention is vastly improved . Give Payet some support …he is 5 minutes ahead of Capt .Terrible . COYI
I hope Noble plays today. He understands the importance of these big games and is worth his place in the side.
Wonder who’ll be the next target after Noble?
I don’t wish Noble who is among our clubs greatest servants ill but I hope he doesn’t play today he is holding the team back much as Nolan was in his last season with us. We need to replace him with a great player and that means spending so it is unlikely in this window, whatever happens and whoever is selected I hope we win COYI !!!
very much agree R44 and Mooro. Noble had his usual very effective game in the 1st half against Leicester. They say he is slow, but to cover that much ground in 45 minutes proves him not so slow. I sometimes wish he would slow down a bit.
With and 88% pass competion rate, better than all but the majestic Fernandes, He is the best passer.
60% of his passes were forward, which makes the claim that he only passes backwards laughable, and as a captain he is unbeatable.
I am sure he needs a rest even without an injury, and hopefully Read can do his captain job almost as well.
We have god back-up to Noble with Fernandes and Obiang ready to go.
We will need them all, in the next 2 moths especially.
ln my view True lrons are those who are loyal to WHU instead of only to their favourite players even when such players have clearly become an embarrasment on the pitch. And there are many such “fans” believe you me, cause even Cpt No-legs Nolan had his die hard supporters just like his successor Cpt Terrible.
They all acknowledge that he has slowed down, has not been at his best this season, that we are more dynamic without him and that Obiang, Fernandes, Kouyate and Nordtveit have all been performing consistently better than him in central midfield etc etc… but for some strange reason insist that Slow-mo retains his place.
For the sake of all true lrons and for the good of the team
NOBLE OUT…..AND OUT NOW!!!
‘ ln my view True lrons are those who are loyal to WHU instead of only to their favourite players ‘
…….and your telling us LOL
By the way, Kouyate has played 90% of his games this season in central defence, Nordveit has never come near Nobles standard as anyone can tell you. Obiang has only ever played 2 outstanding months, and still doesn’t have Nobles attributes.
So the only real example is Fernandes, who I think will be world class very soon, but right now is inexperienced and lacking the right aggression.
Don’t understand all this Noble bashing . Just as I never understood all the Carroll bashing .
Just how fast exactly is he supposed to play ? . His play and distribution dictates that he doesn’t go hung ho . You can’t play at 100mph whilst holding midfield and having a pass accuracy of over 80% .
Lets just bash the manager instead eh Kevin 🙂
Im sorry i dont mean to be harsh as at the end of the day we are all Irons but some fans must have glass eyes to not see or admit Nobes has struggled this season.
Its Nolan all over again! His legs have gone but lets keep picking him whatever form he’s in 🙂
I am astonished that anyone can support Noble for the way he is playing . He is abysmal week after week . Perhaps these idiots think that letting an opponent run past you cos you can’t keep up is a tactical plan !!. There is not a worse midfield player in the league and as for captain what exactly does he do apart from toss a coin . He certainly can not lead by example …or perhaps he is and that is why we have been so poor . Get him out of the team and we will immediately see an increase in tempo and more time for Payet and Lanzini to work with the ball . Noble just slows everything down giving the opposition to reform and man mark . NOBLE MUST NOT PLAY . COYI
Blind loyalty because he’s one of our own Bubbles nothing more 🙂 Bit like calling for the slug to return after a bad result week in week out 🙂
I really struggle to understand how some fans do not see Nobes has been well below par this season.It isnt a small band of fans who see it.
Some of the most loyal fans i know who will defend our players to the hilt admit he is struggling.
Its a fact this year,not some ridiculous hate campaign or Noble bashing as some want to lable it.
The lad would run through a brick wall for our club but that doesnt mean fans cant say what is there bang in front of their eyes.
Covering the most ground means diddly about someones pace.Nolan covered the most ground in a match in his last season,he was also the least effective player we had on the pitch that night.Just saying.
New faces are badly needed in the team so old ones need to move over to make room. NO ONE has showed that they are indispensable this season. too many goals have come because there are too many mistakes & players who are clearly not good enough.
So who does need replacing? there are fans who will argue that their favourite player should keep their place. some need to go but who???