West Ham are still struggling through their injury crisis this months with Todibo, Bowen, Areola, Fullkrug and Antonio out of action. However there does seem to be better news on the horizon regarding one team member’s imminent return to first team action.
Crysencio Summerville’s fitness progress was covered by Graham Potter in the presser on Thursday: At that stage it was suggested by his head coach that ‘The game might come too soon”: A big miss against Fulham, the 22 year old sparkled in his first outing as a right wing-back with super-impressive involvement at both ends of the pitch.
Not only was he involved in West Ham’s first goal creation but he saved at least one at the other end with a goal-line clearance.
So his withdrawal at half time following a hamstring twinge was seen as a precaution and a big miss as West Ham lost their cutting edge in the second half. It looks today from Claret and Hugh’s training ground source that there is good cause to be upbeat and hopeful that Summerville will make it for the match tomorrow at London Stadium against rivals Crystal Palace.
The source wouldn’t commit to 100% – but when questioned, claimed ‘Summerville could well be fit in time’ which is certainly sounding hopeful and more upbeat than Graham Potter was prepared to be just yesterday.
Summerville – rumour has it he’s looking increasingly likely to be fit
That opens the way for West Ham to revert to the three centre-backs and wing backs of Summerville on the right and Ollie Scarles on the left which produced such an attractive brand of football in the first ’45 of the FA Cup game. Analysts suggest that a’box’ midfield with 2 defensive midfielders sitting behind 2 attacking midfielders (last time was Kudus and Paquetá in these roles) would be the Potter way.
All well and good but without Niclas Fullkrug, the front three is still a bit make-do-and-mend, so we’ll just have to wait and see if our source nailed it- whether Summerville is assessed as ‘fit enough to start’ or whether he comes from the bench tomorrow- and how Potter deals with the lack of a target man.
