Plan B Might Become Moyes' Plan A

Playing Olympiacos just a few days after getting 'Tempurad' by Villa can be seen as a chance of a quick redemption, or as a further drain on what looked like a 'leggy' 1st team, or a chance for David Moyes to implement a plan 'B' that might form part of his future plan 'A'!

Unfortunately Emerson is banned for the next domestic home game against Everton on Sunday, so he will definitely feature against the Greek giants (literally). Dino, or Stan the Man Mavropanos, whichever moniker you like to give him will surely start given his Greeky descendancy.

Up front the extremely leggy and off the boil Mikey Antonio must be 'rested' and replaced by either Divin Mubama or Mo Kudus, Ings is so slow that he might as well be on another planet! Olympiacos are a very decent team, especially at home although they were beaten at home in their last Europa league tie. Their crowd could be described as boisterous to be kind or down right intimidating to be more honest, although their intimidation is usually reserved for domestic local derbies.

Moyes will try to rest Zouma given the defender's propensity to pick up knee injuries around this part of the season, meaning Aguerd will probably start in front of Fabianski and alongside Stan the man, with Emerson to his left and Kehrer to his right.

The rest of the team virtually picks itself, so the starting line up will probably be: Fabianski, Kehrer, Aguerd, Mavropanos, Emerson, Alvarez, Soucek, Ward-Prowse, Pacqueta, Bowen, Kudus. Moyes might elect to use Benrahma, Fornals or even Divin Mubama as starters, but he s not known for taking too many risks, especially as this fixture could put the 'group to bed' as far as Hammers are concerned.

An early evening kick off (17:45 BST) might mean a few fans missing the start of the game on their way back from work, those lucky enough to be in attendance at the actual game should be aware of the local Police forces lack of tolerance to public drunkenness and extremely archaic views on class C drug consumption with massive fines and possible jail sentences for what some in the UK might consider to be 'just a little bit of puff'.

So a word of advice given by our old Greek correspondent Pavlos Skouvis "If it's brown you can flush it down, if it's green it doesn't need to be seen, it can be smelled from a mile away by the very well trained sniffer dogs they have at Athens airport"

Moyes will have to 'balance his act' knowing Hammers slide down the Premier League table urgently needs to be addressed on Sunday against his old team, no one said it was going to be easy competing in Europe and domestically, but it is the club's THIRD year in Europe on the spin and a lot of the unseen logistical work is a well oiled machine nowadays, something that needs to be lauded and applauded.

Even a draw on Thursday would be a good result, it is to be hoped that Hammers faltering domestic campaign will be given a much needed fillip on the night, and heaven knows, maybe Moysie will let some fresh blood on the pitch, and NOT from head injuries! - Ed