Slaven Bilic is unlikely to change the winning lineup which started against Swansea in the 4-1 win on Boxing Day.
Lanzini resumed training this week but is someway behind and faces a late fitness test but he is unlikely to be included in the starting lineup this afternoon and won’t be risked for the full 90 minutes.
The team lineup is likely to be: Randolph, Nordtveit, Reid, Ogbonna, Cresswell, Noble, Kouyaté, Antonio, Ayew, Payet and Carroll
This will probably be the last match for Kouyate and Ayew for five weeks as they are both due to join their respective AFCON training camps on New Year’s Day. West Ham have reportedly formally requested that Ayew is allowed to delay joining up with the Ghanian training camp so he can play against Manchester United on 2nd January.
Slaven Bilic is going for a fourth back to back win to finish the year and five games unbeaten since the miserable 5-1 defeat to Arsenal at the beginning of December. If the Hammers succeed today it will be the first time since February 2014 they have recorded four back to back league wins. On that occasion Sam Allardyce wins over Swansea, Norwich and Southampton at home and Aston Villa away.
If he keeps Noble and leaves out our most consistent midfielder . Obiang , he deserves the sack . Noble contributes nothing ( 10 others to take pens ) while Obiang covers every inch of the pitch quickly !!
That would be the best team selection for this game.
As I said, all our players are vital, especially for thew next 2 months. Keeping Obiang fit for the following 2 games, would be very intelligent planning. ( by the way Obiang has only played 2 months at a good enough standard, so lets hope he continues with that for the next 2 months ).
3 difficult games in 7 days is no easy job, and more to follow. All our decent players are vital and that includes Noble and even Nordveit.