westhamfans.org

West Ham United: Adrian (c), Antonio, Diop, Ogbonna, Masuaku, Rice, Obiang, Diangana, Nasri, Xande Silva, Arnautovic Subs: Fabianski, Cresswell, Coventry, Snodgrass, Felipe Anderson, Lucas Perez, Carroll
Birmingham City: Camp, Harding, Morrison (c), Dean, Colin, Mahoney, Gardner, Kieftenbeld, Maghoma, Adams, Jutkiewicz Subs: Trueman (GK), C.Gardner, Lubala, Scarr, Lakin, Otabor, Dacres-Cogley

No one exactly knows, has known or seems they will know what has occured between young Hammers star Reece Oxford and his manager Manuel Pellegrini, once tipped to be the brightest star to emerge from the 'famous' West Ham Academy, Reece has seen his career go backwards. The 6'3" just turned 20 year old can play as a centre half or in midfield, but his debut as a sixteen year old which saw him dominate the Arsenal players during a 2-0 away victory for the club seems an awful long time ago now.

On the back of an incredibly busy December and a very busy January, Hammers manager Manuel Pellegrini will be forced to 'shuffle his pack' ahead of this Saturday's early FA Cup tie against Championship high flyers Birmingham City at the London Stadium. The need to rest his squad will have to be delicately balanced between the need to progress in what realistically is the only trophy available to the club, a good FA Cup run can revitalise a club and it's fanbase.

West Ham: Fabianski, Zabaleta, Ogbonna, Diop, Cresswell, Snodgrass, Obiang, Rice, Anderson, Carroll, Arnautovic Subs: Adrian, Noble, Nasri, Masuaku, Perez, Antonio, Diangana
Brighton: Button, Duffy, Dunk, Montoya, Bernardo, Stephens, Gross, March, Propper, Murray, Locadia Subs: Steele, Bong, Kayal, Bissouma, Andone, Knockaert, Balogun

Fresh from topping the Premier League list for the most expensive 'mascot experience', Hammers are earning another unenviable top of the pile listing, namely as the team with the most injuries to their first team squad. Although Pablo Zabaleta and Robert Snodgrass stand a decent chance of making the match day squad, the rest of the players on the list have a ways to go before even being considered for inclusion in to the first team, Fabian Balbuena, Javier Hernandez, Jack Wilshere, Ryan Fredericks, Andrily Yarmolenko, Carlos Sanchez, Winston Reid and Manuel Lanzini.

Although buoyed by the return of Marko Arnoutovic from injury, Manuel Pellegrini still has the unenviable task of selecting a team capable of seeing off Brighton & Hove Albion at the London Stadium from an increasingly long injury list.
Fabian Balbuena has joined the list of long-term injuries with no return date after suffering from knee ligament damage, Balbuena joins Jack Wilshere, Winston Reid, Ryan Fredericks, Andrily Yarmolenko, Carlos Sanchez and Manuel Lanzini with no exact date scheduled for their return.

No, this is not an article relating to West Ham United's unbelievable injury list, a list that keeps on growing! Instead it is about the price of being a football 'mascot', it may seem naive now, but back in the day 'mascots' either wore silly costumes and took part in dodgy penalty shoot outs, or, were selected because they had been ill or because they were randomly selected from the club's 'youth' membership. The BBC, despite employing Mark Lawrenson, usually research things properly, it is to them that we must credit the following information.

Having already worked with Samir Nasri it really was a no brainer for Hammers boss Manuel Pellegrini to sanction a short term loan deal for Samir Nasri, once the Frenchman had proved his fitness following a long suspension for inadvertently having broken FIFA doping laws. Here is what Pellegrini said “I am very pleased to welcome Samir to West Ham United, he is a player I obviously know well from our time together at Manchester City and I am happy to be working with him again.

Having survived on a wing and a prayer through most of the Christmas period, Hammers finally played the 'Game too far' against a resolute and determined Burnley side. Despite the return of Marko Arnoutovic, Hammers were without essentially nine men, and that imbalance finally came home to roost. Unfortunately there are only a few days to go before the next demand on the wafer thin squad.

Burnley: Heaton, Bardsley, Mee, Tarkowski, Taylor, Gudmundsson, Westwood, Cork, McNeil, Wood, Barnes. Subs: Hart, Long, Gibson, Koiki, Hendrick, Vydra, Vokes.
West Ham: Fabianski, Antonio, Ogbonna, Diop, Cresswell, Snodgrass, Noble, Rice, Anderson, Perez, Arnautovic. Subs: Adrian, Masuaku, Obiang, Coventry, Diangana, Carroll, Silva.