What changes might we see before West Ham head to Watford?
With matchday 2 behind, we look at what some of the changes might be to the starting 11 as West Ham head northwest to Hertfordshire to take on Watford.
We saw Pellegrini make changed to the West Ham lineup for the Brighton match from week 1 but that was due to injury and underperformance. We saw some interesting performances last weekend at Brighton and that could come into play with the Gaffer as he is still looking to secure is starting 11.
Good news for the Hammers is that the Hornets have been awful so far this season. Watford has lost to both Brighton and Everton and has yet to find the backend of the net. The Hammers should be pretty confident about picking up their first win of the 2019 campaign but I do think we will see some fresh faces to the starting lineup.
Fresh faces since last week
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Hopefully, Sebastien Haller is fit and we will see him lead the line out on Saturday relieving Chicharito even though he scored the first goal of the new season. Seeing Chicha back out there on Saturday confirmed my belief that Haller is leaps and bounds above him on the pitch.
Another person I think we might see is Balbuena coming back into the fold. Not because of injury, but I hope a fresh wakeup call after being dropped will set him straight. This replacement solely depends on the Paraguayans week in practice due to Ogbonna’s pretty difficult run out last week.
The last fresh face would be the one of Felipe Anderson but who does he replace? My guess would be Snodgrass but depending on how Pellegrini feels and how training goes, will determine who Anderson might replace against the Hornets.
Who stays in the starting 11?
Right off the bat, the three names that come to me are Fabianski, Rice, and Masuaku. Fabianski, even in a sloppy match against City solidified himself this past weekend. Masuaku got his chance to start this weekend and he didn’t disappoint. There were at least 3 times where he made the right call where others might’ve messed it up.
Rice and others like Lanzini and Fredericks look solid enough for me to start for the third straight match. Lanzini and Rice are continuing their partnership as defending and attack mids are Fredericks is continuing to get better and his pace is miles better than the rest at RB.
If you counted up the players I mentioned in your head then you would know that there are 3 starters that we haven’t discussed from last week. Diop, Fornals, and Wilshere. Diop is probably a guarantee for me but his shaky start has scared me before. You don’t drop Wilshere for Sanchez just yet and Antonio might play but it can’t be here, so unless Nobes is back, Jack starts.
As for Fornals, he is a wildcard in all this. Anderson who was mentioned before will most likely take over Snodgrass’s spot but if the Gaffer like what Bob does more during the week, you could see Fornals getting taken over by Anderson. Match number 3 up next, COME ON YOU IRONS!