Could Xande Silva factor into West Ham’s squad for Fulham?

With West Ham stacking up some injuries in their striker ranks, West Ham’s wonderkid hiding in their U23, Xande Silva, is on track to feature for the Hammers as they head across London to meet up with Fulham.

Marko Arnautovic is known to be out until January (maybe February) with an injury to his hamstring and now Lucas Perez is a doubt for the Fulham match as he sustained a hole in the top of his foot against Crystal Palace. With the Irons low on strikers, it could be time for Xande Silva to step up in the first team.

Silva picked up a hamstring injury earlier this season keeping him out of contention for West Ham’s Carabao Cup squads against Wimbledon FC and Macclesfield Town after drawing interest from his hot start. That hot start was resumed after he returned to fitness giving him 7 goals and 1 assist in seven games this season.

With him fit and banging in goals again for the U23s, the time is perfect for Silva to get a sniff at the first team. It seems, as Sam Inkersole reported, that Silva is in contention for the team after being a late miss against Palace. The missing piece to the puzzle this time is that he didn’t play with the U23 team this week, most likely to keep him fit and focused on Fulham.

Silva is an extremely dynamic forward who has the tools to make it in the Premier League. In his goals scored this season, he’s shown off his ability to time runs very well and get open behind the opposition’s defense. He has also shown that in a counterattack, he can fly down the wing or up the piI’mh.

Im predicting that Silva will start this match on the bench but behind who is still up in the air. Chicharito is the only for sure at striker right now, so will it be Andy Carroll beside him up top or Michail Antonio?

Naturally, Antonio makes sense; he is strong, fast, and good in the air, but with depth issues at right-back, Pellegrini may choose to keep his versatile player on the bench and use him strategically. That leaves Carroll as the starter. It would be his first start of the season after a few matches where he has seen substitute minutes come in the second half to wade him back into action.

For me, this match calls for the Carroll-Chicharito link up we’ve all be crying out for for two seasons. Having Michail Antonio and Xande Silva on the bench allows for Pellegrini to replace both starters should he need to, or preserve Carroll’s health by giving Silva a debut in the second half and plugging in Antonio elsewhere.

If the match is easily in hand for West Ham or completely gone, Silva is the main benefactor as Pellegrini wouldn’t want to throw a kid into the Premier League pressure cooker that this match could become if it’s close. I’m excited to see the massively impressive kid finally get his chance to show what he’s got at the Premier League level. If all goes right, Xande Silva could save the club a lot of money in future transfer windows, too…. but no pressure.