West Ham manager Nuno Espírito Santo has the most welcome of selection dilemmas ahead of Friday night’s Championship game against Queens Park Rangers at the London Stadium.
Claret & Hugh spoke to a club insider this afternoon who revealed that, aside from one minor late fitness test to one player, Nuno has a complete selection of midfielders to choose from when he picks his XI for the London derby.
That leaves the Hammers boss potentially selecting just two from six available options, with Divine Mukasa, Arne Engels, Tomáš Souček, Edson Álvarez, Lewis Orford and Soungoutou Magassa all believed to be available. With Nuno likely to revert to a 4-4-2 formation for the first Championship fixture of the weekend, somebody is going to be very disappointed.
Six Into Two Doesn’t Go For Nuno
Clearly, even if Espírito Santo chooses to begin the game with three midfielders, there are still going to be another three very unhappy campers.
And it could be worse — or better, depending on which way you’re looking at it — because Mohamadou Kanté is serving a one-match suspension following his red card against Millwall.
Whilst I expect Nuno to switch back to a 4-4-2, I can’t imagine he will put all of his remaining midfielders on the bench either, which means one and possibly two are likely to miss out completely.
It’s going to be fascinating to see what the head coach comes up with for this particular one.
Engels is nailed on to start against QPR
Mukasa And Engels Surely Undroppable
As things stand, Arne Engels and Divine Mukasa look undroppable from the starting XI, let alone the squad.
The pair have developed an excellent partnership in the middle of the pitch and have been fundamental to West Ham’s impressive run of form.
It’s also unfathomable to think that Tomáš Souček won’t at least make the bench now that he’s back in contention following his ankle ligament injury.
That still leaves Orford, Álvarez and Magassa fighting for what could be very limited space in the matchday squad. As Claret & Hugh reported last week, Nuno’s upcoming selections could provide a pretty sizeable clue as to which midfielders have a future at the club beyond January.
All eyes will be on the gaffer’s team sheet ahead of kick-off on Friday night.
Not that he’ll mind.
I’m sure it’s a most welcome problem to have.