Green Street Hammers
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Predicting West Ham’s bench for the Fulham Match

By Adam Smith

LONDON, ENGLAND - MAY 13: Manuel Lanzini of West Ham United celebrates scoring his sides third goal during the Premier League match between West Ham United and Everton at London Stadium on May 13, 2018 in London, England. (Photo by Stephen Pond/Getty Images)
LONDON, ENGLAND - MAY 13: Manuel Lanzini of West Ham United celebrates scoring his sides third goal during the Premier League match between West Ham United and Everton at London Stadium on May 13, 2018 in London, England. (Photo by Stephen Pond/Getty Images) /
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West Ham have a few familiar faces returning to the squad after injury and a few others playing themselves out of contention with the Cottagers coming across London. Selecting the bench for West Ham’s the Fulham match could provide an unusual team, albeit exciting.

Let’s start with the biggest name returning to action, midfield maestro, string-puller, attacking jewel, and Messi’s best friend Manuel Lanzini is officially back! The team has been warm weather training in Spain and, yes Manu traveled and impressed in training over this time.

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Having Lanzini back is a massive boost for the Hammers who have relied upon Robert Snodgrass and Samir Nasri in Lanzini’s native #10 position in his absence. With Snodgrass performing better as a wide player and Samir Nasri inexplicably out for a month with a training injury, Lanzini’s return is extremely timely for the Hammers.

The other important player back from injury is Fabian Balbuena. The previously underrated centre-back has missed 12 matches in the Premier League’s most busy stretch of games, spanning December 22nd to February 22nd, and his presence was direly missed.

It’s pretty crazy how a Paraguayan centre-back could have such an important leadership role beside 21-year old, French defender Issa Diop, but with both players new to the Prem, working together as a cohesive unit bridged the gap between language, age, and experience, and provided the Hammers with one of the most surprising backlines this season.

Should he actually return to the starting XI, the shakey and unreliable Ogbonna would return to his bench position. Balbuena was seen on Instagram singing “I’m Forever Blowing Bubbles” arm-in-arm with Felipe Anderson at the dinner party for the teams last night in Spain. He looked in good spirits and ready to go, so here’s hoping for a seamless return to the first team.

Alright, here is the bench selection:

Adrian – Backup keeper needed
Pablo Zabaleta – Come in to close out the game for Fredericks
Angelo Ogbonna – Returns to his bench spot
Robert Snodgrass – Option as a winger/central midfielder
Grady Diangana – Attacking option in a (must) win game
Manuel Lanzini – Aiming for 15-20 mins off the bench in season debut
Andy Carroll – …when all else fails

Those left out include:

Samir Nasri – Injured
Lucas Perez – No future with the team
Xande Silva – Youngest striker/ with U23s
Pedro Obiang – Hasn’t looked good all season
Arthur Masuaku – Cresswell’s back up/ game plan casualty

The dropoff of Lucas Perez has been incredibly fast and super disappointing this season. The Arsenal cast off had Pellegrini throw him a Premier League lifeline with a transfer deadline swoop. Initially brought in as a depth striker option, Perez was forced into a fair bit of action in the first half of the season and didn’t do too poorly.

Despite his usage, Perez has been a training ground let down and according to the ever-reliable ExWHUemployee, didn’t travel to Spain with the team, seemingly removing him from any team activities for the rest of the season.

Perez didn’t get his desired move to Spain in January and this may be his reaction to that. Likewise, Pedro Obiang didn’t get his move back to Italy, but his poor play has spanned the entire season. His needed dropping should be a casualty of his own performances.

Xande Silva and Arthur Masuaku are the only two players who don’t deserve to be dropped, but circumstantially probably will be. Silva is just the low man on the totem pole, and with Arnautovic, Chicharito and Carroll all fit, he’ll be the cast off at striker.

Next. Valencia in for Zabaleta? West Ham could do worse. dark

Masuaku, on the other hand, is firmly in a backup position behind Aaron Cresswell, and with Fulham as vulnerable as they are, West Ham should look to keep attackers on the squad over defenders. I know he isn’t really a defender, but Masuaku isn’t going to replace Anderson, and Diangana should get a chance late to step in and replace Antonio on the right side.