Angelo Ogbonna was un-used substitute last weekend despite seemingly recovering from hamstring injury he suffered in the Newcastle 2-0 win at the Boleyn Ground.
Winston Reid is also expected to be available for selection following his recovery after he came off in the 2-2 draw at Sunderland. The Hammers’ medical team explained Reid had been struggling for a while with a minor injury, Stijn Vandenbroucke, West Ham’s head of medical and sport science, told the club’s official website. “Winston came off in the game against Sunderland, but we are positive for a recovery for the next game.”
With both centre backs considered first choice fit, Bilic faces a dilemma whether to stick or twist against Chelsea.
Both James Tomkins and James Collins had fantastic performances against Crystal Palace last weekend and Bilic have been known to reward good performances and not change a winning team.
It is great position to be in with four in-form Premier League class centre backs all competing for two places but not one we are used to at West Ham. With such a quality squad it makes predicting Saturday’s starting team against Chelsea a difficult task and I don’t envy Bilic’s decision. If I were take a punt I would imagine he will go for a Reid and Tomkins partnership.
I think what’s made it even more difficult is Jenks performance in last two games. I think that might have stopped Slav playing Tomkins RB.
I imagine if Reid is ft enough he plays probably with Tompkins, they are presently the two best CB’s, the defence also looks a lot more solid with Reid in the position that Ogbonna had been playing. When Ogbonna plays there the opposition seemed to find a gap between him and Cresswell also when Reid played right side Jenks looked a lot worse. Although Chelsea have had a bad start with Costa and Pedro in particular they have players that can really exploit those spaces, will be a tough game for us but we have shown we are more than capable of getting results, just treat it like an away game 😉
Ogbonna alongside Reid Tomo at right back will be the best formation for Chelski,
Ogbonna is the man to play Costa at his game,
Reid is out injured i think bubs.That seems to be the word anyway 😉
Think I’d leave Jenks where he is, slowly he’s getting some form back, bit unlucky with the penalty last weekend.
Problem this week if he is a bit unlucky we will lose,
I am not convinced with his defending,this week we will be punished for every mistake so Ginge and Jenks could do with a rest,
We want them to come on to us so we can rip there old defenders a new one
I remember someone saying how Terry would destroy Lanzini because he was small,let’s see this week if the old boy can catch him and weather it will be out side the area