West Ham boss David Moyes will rely on the players who took us to Europe last season rather than one who didn’t.
There is no question that Kurt Zouma’s absence will be a bitter blow order the next few weeks but Moyes is not one to dwell on misfortune – he has been in the game too long.
He was giving little away on the team selection for the game but was accompanied by Alex Kral which suggests the midfielder will be involved in the match.
Clearly there will need to be some youngsters brought in for the game but the manager wasn’t ready to get into too much detail on how many would be involved.
We can presumably expect to see Mark Noble leading the team with Areola in goal and the likes of Yarmolenko involved for a match which will be instructive on the youngsters Moyes does choose to field.
Commenting on the game at his presser Moyes said of Zouma in particular: “He has been very good for us and everybody has been impressed.
He’s come with the experience we’d expect of a player who has come from Chelsea. He’d be a big miss for anybody, but we’ve got players who helped us get to Europe last year [who will have a chance now].
We will play some young players. I’m really looking forward to giving some of them their debuts. I’m so keen for them to do well. We will have a lot of senior players involved as well.”