westhamfans.org

Chelsea: Mendy, Azpilicueta, Zouma, Silva, Chilwell, Kante, Jorginho, Werner, Mount, Pulisic, Abraham. Subs: Arrizabalaga, Rudiger, Christensen, Kovacic, Giroud, Hudson-Odoi, Gilmour, Havertz, Emerson.
West Ham: Fabianski, Coufal, Balbuena, Ogbonna, Cresswell, Noble, Rice, Soucek, Fornals, Haller, Bowen. Subs: Martin, Randolph, Yarmolenko, Benrahma, Snodgrass, Dawson, Diop, Fredericks, Johnson.

West Ham and David Moyes are doing their best to recruit additional 'hungry' players to the squad once the January transfer window opens, high on the list is the need for a left back. Other areas need strengthening, but it is the troublesome left back berth that is hardest to fill.

Most fans are as baffled by how FFP doesn't seem to apply to the 'big' clubs as they are about the circumstances regarding the unfair 'tapping up' of players, again involving the 'big' clubs, there is legislation in the FA rule book covering the issue, unfortunately it was made BEFORE the advent of social media and it's ubiquitous spin offs and as such is no longer fit for purpose!

It appears that Hammers boss, David Moyes' 'mole hunting', is beginning to pay dividends as for once there is only speculation regarding players' fitness issues, as opposed to info straight from the horses mouth as it had been. You may wonder what the problem is?

Dear old 'arry Redknapp would always reference the fact that his squad was "down to the bare bones" during his tenure as West Ham United manager, funnily enough the 'BB' reference was always used more just ahead of the January transfer window, as if to remind the board that they would shortly need to put their hands in their pockets.

Well, the manager has changed but the situation hasn't, going in to the crucial and frenetic Christmas and new year games schedule, present incumbent David Moyes is having to cope with injuries to key layers on an increasingly alarming scale!

West Ham: Fabianski, Diop, Ogbonna, Cresswell, Coufal, Rice, Soucek, Fornals, Benrahma, Bowen, Haller Subs: Randolph, Yarmolenko, Lanzini, Snodgrass, Dawson, Noble, Fredericks
Palace: Guaita, Ward, Van Aanholt, Dann, Kouyate, McArthur, Townsend, Milivojevic, Eze, Zaha, Benteke Subs: Butland, Tomkins, Ayew, Schlupp, Batshuayi, Mitchell, Riedewald

Ex-Hammers manager Slaven Billic has been sacked by West Bromwich Albion, after 18 months in charge, with the club 19th in the Premier League. The Baggies have only gathered seven points from 13 league games, with eight defeats, though they earned a surprise 1-1 draw at Manchester City on Tuesday. Billic is the first coach to be sacked so far in the Barclays Premier League this season.

One man's loss, another's gain, after being starved of success, French clubs had hoped they would be revitalised by an unprecedented TV rights deal worth more than €1.15bn per year (€814m a year from Mediapro and €330m from BeIN Sports). It was the second largest TV deal in Europe, but hopes finally disappeared this week, pushing French football to the brink of financial ruin.

Without wishing to put a dampener on fans' current 'euphoria', which has been brought about by a string of superb results, it is hard to avoid the 'Elephant in the Room' in fact a couple of them! The injuries that Michail Antonio and Authur Masuaku have sustained have exposed just how dangerously wafer thin David Moyes' squad actually is, however that is not to pour scorn over how well the manager has adapted to the loss of two key players.

Many Hammers fans were aghast when news of Authur Masuaku's knee operation became known, incidentally the news first broke on this site fully half an hour before fellow fans' site KUMB.com, whereas Sullivan's pet site C&H as usual got their facts wrong and stated that the news had first appeared on Graham Howlett's wonderful site.