West Ham’s assist king and blazing Brazilian to lead way against Eagles

A new formation filled with new players has changed things for West Ham as far as offense is concerned. Gone are the days of relying on one man on top of a team of miscast players, and now is the time to attack from the perimeter and cut inside, time for Snodgrass and Anderson to step up and lead their team.

No more Marko Arnautovic? No problem for West Ham. The 4-2-2-2 formation Manuel Pellegrini has finally installed at West Ham has the striker duo atop his team reliant on supply from the attacking midfielders making the duo of Robert Snodgrass and Felipe Anderson the most important offensive pairing on the pitch.

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After back-to-back wins for the first time in nearly two years, West Ham have found success in this formation and game plan, and it starts with Robert Snodgrass and Felipe Anderson. The role both players are currently in sees them acting as pseudo-wingers with middle-of-the-pitch responsibilities as well.

Both players have featured around the pitch in other positions this season, Snodgrass as a rightwinger, right midfielder, central midfielder, attacking midfielder and Felipe Anderson as a leftwinger, left midfielder, and #10 as well. They seem to each have found a home in this hybrid position where they start out wide and drift inside to feed the strikers.

Felipe Anderson has taken the role and used it to generate goals by allowing his forwards to pull defenders and coverage for him, opening up the backline for his dribbling style play. Anderson also has been sending picture perfect long balls and passes through the oppositions back line with relative ease for Chicharito or Perez to run onto.

Snodgrass is keeping it simple and sticking to his superb wide crossing in an effort to collect assists. He also drifts inside and cedes wide ground to his fullback allowing him to support the striker duo and feed balls from behind them as well. This was apparent on Perez’s first goal against Cardiff City as Snodgrass was in the center of the pitch battling for possession and eventually springing Perez forward onto goal.

It’s a new look for West Ham but it’s promising. The shift is becoming gameplan relevant over player relevant with former bench players Lucas Perez and Chicharito stepping up in scoring in the past two games. With a solid game plan and defined roles, Pellegrini has played to the skillset of his two attacking midfielders and liberated the side.

Against what should be a motivated Crystal Palace team, and without Marko Arnautovic for the foreseeable future, West Ham will be tested. However, the next man up mentality and team form that the Irons are playing with should propel them to a victory in this London Derby.