By Hughie Southon
Sadly we spend the international breaks not so much worrying about results to our various national teams as which Hammers may get injured and when the next of these infernal two week breaks from League action are coming up next.
Through gritted teeth I have to tell you the next will be in November between the 11th and 25th of the month by which time a mere eleven or 12 games will have been completed in the Premier League.
It’s very easy to understand why managers are becoming more and more concerned about the number of injuries their players are suffering as a result of this crazy fixtures pile up which last season of course included a ridiculously positioned World Cup tournament.
This weekend we face Villa in a critical game and one can only hope there are no injuries to any of our lads.
I suggested yesterday that Edson Alvarez and Mo Kudus may be on the bench depending on their travel arrangements from North and South America and any ensuing jet lag – the odds probably being that they will be ok. We will see.
So here – given no injuries and other absences – would be my team: Areola; Coufal, Mavropanos, Zouma, Emerson; Alvares, Soucek, Paqueta, Ward-Prowse; Bpwen, Antonio