Striker: Arnautovic Wingers: Anderson & Yarmolenko
No.10: Wilshere (Lanzini)
As we debated in an earlier article, Pellegrini could look to shore up the midfield by droppign one of the strikers into a midfield role. This No.10 role is less free than the role given to Arnautovic in the previous slide, as it would be on them to hassle the defensive midfielders of the other side when in defence.
Lanzini is a great player in this role, as he is wonderful on the ball and can ghost past players with a sharp turn of pace, however his injury means there is a gap in that position right now. In the current squad, I would expect Wilshere to take up that ball carrying job, as his creativity is hardly poor. He would also give his all in the defensive side of things, harassing and pushing the opposition midfield into mistakes.
Maybe at times if Pellegrini wants an extra central midfielder could we see Wilshere as a No.10 for West Ham? Then Lanzini when he returns from injury? pic.twitter.com/OAduAIndON
— Green St. Hammers (@GreenStHammers) July 31, 2018
The danger with this formation is that the attack get isolated if the midfield doesn’t push up with them. The striker can end up just trying to hold up the ball as everyone chases forward, and not causing much damage. However given the workrate of Wilshere/Lanzini I don’t think that would bee too much of an issue.