Paqueta magic the Stamford Bridge key
It will also demonstrate whether David Moyes is ready to break with his traditional approach with new players by throwing Lucas Paqueta into the fray against Chelsea team on just seven points from their five games.
I would expect the second to happen but maybe not the first as Daws may need game time before he is ready for a game which would see the Hammers join the Stamford Bridge outfit on the same number of points.
Moyes however told his pre-match presser that although the midfielder has trained with the team he may need more settling in time saying: “Settling in is always going to be difficult for any player. Overall, Lucas Paqueta is in and trained yesterday.
We want to get him involved but we want to be fair and give him a chance to get to know the players and how we play, and getting used to the Premier League as well.”
And he explained that Ben Johnson is not available and he is waiting to see how Gianluca Scamacca and Aaron Cresswell are declaring: “It’ll be a late decision for both of them.”
After the second half showing against unbeaten Spurs in a game which maybe we should have won, fears of a clash against Chelsea shouldn’t exist.
Both Rice and Soucek looked back to form and performing close to as they did when we saw them as the heartbeat of the team a couple of seasons back.
And despite some thuggish targeting by Spurs at various times Jarrod Bowen too looked to be on his way back after some disappointing opening games. Whether Scamacca has recovered from a knock remains to be seen.
Paqueta will unquestionably become the key man in a Hammers team desperately short on magic over the last few seasons and Saturday would be a good time for him to show it with him, no doubt, replacing Benrahma.
Likely team: Fabianski; Coufal, Kehrer, Zouma, Cresswell; Rice, Soucek; Bowen, Fornals, Paqueta, Antonio or Scamacca.