Albian Ajeti looks set to get his first run out for the Irons tonight with Manuel Pellegrini declaring: ““We need to make some changes – that’s why Jack Wilshere and Robert Snodgrass were not involved” [against Watford].
Speaking at https://www.whufc.com/news/articles/2019/august/27-august/pellegrini-we-must-play-same-mentality he said: “We’ll see about the starting eleven, but I am certain that Ajeti will play, because he’s doing very well in training sessions, and he deserves that opportunity.”
But the manager insists that nothing less than the sort of performance we put in against Watford will do as we go for the first trophy on offer this year.
Speaking ahead of the game the manager said: We know that Newport are a team that play well in the cups
“They’ve eliminated Leicester, they’ve drawn with Tottenham, so we are trying to put our mindset into continuing in the EFL Cup. We also gained a lot of experience last season against Wimbledon.
“We need to play with the same attitude that we played with against Watford. If not, we are going to have some bad moments.”
“As soon as we finished against Watford, we needed to be preparing for the cup game.
“We need to see other players put in good performances, so until after this game, the most important competition to me is the EFL Cup. On Wednesday, it will be the Premier League again.”
West Ham’s trip to Newport tonight has been selected for live television coverage by Sky Sports Football. The broadcast starts at 7.30pm, with kick-off 15 minutes later.