Hammers boss David Moyes has described the fitness and fatigue issues regarding his players returning from International duties as "better than could be expected", this statement is a well needed boost coming ahead of the crucial Barclays Premier League fixture away to Everton at Goodison Park this Sunday.
Moyes will hope his players can overturn the recent unanticipated loss to Brentford in order to get things back on track, returning back to his spiritual home hasn't always been easy for the former Toffees manager, especially as he now has to cross swords with a manager with equal experience, in the form of ex-Chelsea, Liverpool, Newcastle and Real Madrid manager Rafa Benitez.
News that Everton's 'walking wounded' WILL be available for the fixture will be greeted with trepidation, because on their day Everton can beat anyone meaning Hammers will have to be at their electric best to get a positive result. David Moyes is known to resist changes unless HE decides to make them in his line up, but he will undoubtedly have given thought to his defensive line up, given it's porous nature of late.
It isn't just that the defence has not reached the heights of last season, it is in set pieces where the club has fallen down the order. Last season the club topped the league for goals from set pieces, this season they are closer to the bottom! Is this partly to do with Craig Dawson's omission from Moyes' current starting line up?
Kurt Zouma is an obvious improvement on Craig Dawson, but he lacks Dawson's ability to run from distance and get his head on the ball. 'Les's' aerial ability is sorely missed and although we can hardly believe it, we are suggesting that Moyes might wish to replace Angelo Ogbonna with 'Les'.
Ogbonna has been the rock on which the foundations of Moyes defence was based, but he has been unusually error prone since the start of the season, and while he was injured for a while, he was supposed to have been fully recovered but his performances don't reflect that. We'll discuss Lukasz Fabianski as opposed to Alphonse Areola in our next article AND whether Vladimir Coufal should be risked, or replaced by Ben Johnson with promising youngster Harrison Ashby brought in as back up. -Ed
