West Ham’s squad that faced Chelsea featured a few changes, both expected and surprising. Despite the team winning, prepare for more adjustments for the mid-week match with Wolves.
Michail Antonio drew in for Sebastien Haller, Pablo Fornals started, David Martin took Roberto’s place, and Fabian Balbuena stepped in for the suspended Issa Diop. West Ham were heavily changed when traveling to Stamford Bridge, but a strong performance and three points proved Manuel Pellegrini right in those decisions.
The saying suggests that you should never change a winning team but Pellegrini may have to adjust the team and his tactics to better suit his available team rather than commit. Is it time for the ever-beckoned double striker system? Maybe not, but it should be.
Predicted Starting XI:
Martin
Fredericks – Ogbonna – Balbuena – Cresswell
Noble – Rice
Snodgrass – Anderson – Fornals
Haller
Bench: Roberto (begrudgingly), Masuaku, Diop, Fornals, Sanchez/Wilshere, Antonio, Ajeti
I am split between this structure and a 4-4-2 with Andriy Yarmolenko replacing Pablo Fornals or Robert Snodgrass to pair with Sebastien Haller atop a double striker formation. Yamolenko played as striker recently for Ukraine and has in the past for Dynamo Kyiv as well so this wouldn’t be too overwhelming for him.
This is the crux of the team selection. It is almost inarguable that Michail Antonio won’t be starting in this game; he’s just come back to match fitness from his hamstring injury and shouldn’t be risked although he could be a late-game sub.
So, the issue then becomes how to do you get Haller firing? Frankfurt knew that he needed a striking partner to play off of and hopefully, a more Pellegrini-esque 4-2-3-1 can actually mutate to a system that can actually be Haller-friendly with Fornals staying committed forward and central.
Conversely, it could be Robert Snodgrass or Felipe Anderson who rotate in out wide or support Haller centrally. The key to this team is Declan Rice and Mark Noble BOTH playing holding midfield positions. It worked against Chelsea because there were two players able to bail out the back four and it needs to be stuck with against Wolves.
Not having Michail Antonio in the starting XI sucks, but it’s necessary for the long-term health of the Beast, especially in a packed holiday period in December. West Ham are strong enough on paper to get a result with this team and push back Wolves who have been on good form recently.