Arsenal’s visit tomorrow threatens to derail Julen Lopetegui‘s fledgling recovery. The West Ham coach will have been desperate to play his strongest XI to try and blunt the threat posed by Hammers’ North London rivals. Following his substitution against Newcastle on Monday night, speculation has been that Hammers’ first choice defender Jean Clair Todibo was one of the doubtful squad members referred to by Lopetegui in his press conference yesterday.
His replacement Konstantinos Mavropanos is seen as more liable to serious error, having been close to giving away a penalty after holding Callum Wilson in the box on Monday. Todibo’s absence would also have pitched 20 year-old Kaelan Casey into ‘standby’ mode as the only fit defender for the bench.
In a strange move West Ham have released an image of Todibo in training heavily wrapped against the cold but with the caption ‘All Set For Arsenal’ – so confirming their defender’s readiness for tomorrows game which is excellent – but again, hardly keeping the opposite guessing! 10/10 for PR skills but 0/10 for subterfuge.
Todibo training and ‘ready for Arsenal’ (West Ham Twitter x a/c)
Good news, anyway, for The Hammers in the build up to tomorrows’ late afternoon kick off.
