Thus far of course he has rung the changes to get everybody up to full fitness but with only the FC Astra game to come between now and the start of the season, tomorrow is a key day for the manager.
Carl Jenkinson is set to get his first 90 minutes although he is not going to feature against Arsenal under the terms of his loan next Sunday. Manuel Lanzini, too, is likely to get a run-out.
‘Slav’ has already made it clear he has a tough decision to make about the Thursday night line up as the Premier League is our No 1 priority so expect a very strong team tomorrow.
This is his last opportunity for the front eleven to bond with each other ahead of the match at the Emirates.
With Winston Reid and Pedro Obiang on the injured list we expect to see the team line up something like this:
Adrian, Jenkinson, Ogbonna, Tomkins, Cresswell; Noble, Kouyate, Lanzini, Payet, Sakho, Zarate