The West Ham first team who stumbled on success through hard work and sheer effort on Monday night need to regroup and go again on Saturday afternoon. Lopetegui will be desperate to get something out of the Arsenal visit as well he should: The bar has been raised by that victory which saw his Hammers team break- almost – the record for distance run in one match.
Repeating the effort is crucial – ideally Hammers’ head coach would, I’m sure, field the same eleven starters.
Before the Magpies game in his press conference, Julen Lopetegui alluded to fitness worries with ‘two little problems’ – one of which we now know to have been Jean Clair Todibo who had a stomach problem but played through his illness.
There was one awful howler which almost resulted in a Newcastle goal but we will forgive Todibo this as we now know he was not fully fit.
He is described as being only 50/50 for the Saturday kick off which means that, should he not be ready, Konstantinos Mavropanos will start. The Greek showed why he is second fiddle at present, getting the wrong side of attacker Callum Wilson and almost conceding a penalty.
Beyond that, West Ham’s next defender is teenager Kaelan Casey who will, I’m sure, be desperate to perform well if called upon but it illustrates just how thin this squad still is, despite the £140 million spend when a largely untried teenager maybe called into a crucial London derby.
A reported £8.5 million bid for Galatasaray’s Victor Nelsson (according to Turkish source aspor.com)would remedy the situation in January but keeps us all on edge for the next six weeks as West Ham are one injury away from full-on defensive crisis. Worst-case option is using bad boy Edson Alvarez as a stand-in defender, who is behind Casey as far as I’m concerned after his disciplinary embarrassment of the Autumn.
