West Ham: Time to Shuffle the Deck against Manchester United

West Ham are seemingly safe, but with Aston Villa making things interesting with their win over Arsenal, expect some big changes to preserve the starters for the weekend.

Manchester United are pushing for Champions League football, West Ham are looking to cement their almost secured Premier League futures, both teams should be motivated to win this match. That being said, West Ham have the opportunity to relegate Aston Villa on Sunday so David Moyes could opt to field an alternate team versus the Red Devils.

There is a method to this decision beyond resting starters for what could be described as a more ‘winnable’ match on Sunday. A few fringe players have should be given the chance to prove their worth to their manager before the transfer window opens next week.

A few names to watch for are Felipe Anderson, Manuel Lanzini, and Fabian Balbuena to start. All three names were brought up by Claret and Hugh this week, the board’s mouthpiece, as players who can be sold as spare parts this summer. This story matching up with the report from the same source suggesting a £0 transfer budget, and it all starts to make sense.

So, with all this being said, could the team to face Manchester United look like this:

Fabianski
Johnson – Diop – Balbuena – Masuaku
Rice – Soucek
Bowen – Lanzini – Anderson
Haller

Bench: Randolph, Cresswell, Ogbonna, Wilshere, Noble, Fornals, Yarmolenko, Antonio, Ajeti

In this starting XI pressure is mounting on Sebastien Haller and Felipe Anderson. Both players broke the team’s record transfer fee and both players can be counted as flops considering how much they cost to bring in. With perennial relegation battles, both players haven’t been impact signings and could finance a shallow transfer budget.

Likewise, Balbuena, Masuaku, and Lanzini are probably out of opportunities but should be given this big stage to prove us and the powers that be at the club wrong. Short of a world-class performance from all of these players, not much can be expected from them with limited opportunities.

The core of these team will be intact to help facilitate a competitive match should the fringe players not hold up their end of the bargain. Jarrod Bowen, Declan Rice, Tomas Soucek, and Lukasz Fabianski will all have to be counted on to push the pace and lead by example yet again.

All of these changes might not happen, but a competitive team is one that has depth and impact players that can make a difference regardless of opportunity and minutes played. If the chance isn’t taken by these players should they play, then Moyes has his answer about who wants to be in East London.