There is an argument to suggest West Ham United would benefit from the addition of an extra body in midfield when Arsenal rock up at the London Stadium on Sunday.
But when Hammers News asked our TalkingPoint users which player they would most like to see come into the starting XI, it is telling that only four per cent of you voted in favour of Soungoutou Magassa.
Nuno’s faith in Magassa appears to have wavered following some extremely poor performances against very limited opposition. See, that 3-0 loss at Wolves and the most unconvincing of FA Cup victories over third-tier Burton Albion.
What should our plan be with Potts and Magassa?
Both have barely featured in the last four months… 😕
So Magassa chasing around Declan Rice like an old, overweight housecat ambling in the vague direction of a laser pointer? That is not a particularly appetising thought.
West Ham United fans want to see Aaron Wan-Bissaka back
At the time of asking, Magassa is the West Ham United player who received the fewest votes. Aaron Wan-Bissaka, in contrast, tops the poll following a spell out of Nuno’s XI.
Wan-Bissaka receives just shy of 30 per cent of your votes, narrowly ahead of Callum Wilson. Mohamadou Kante was chosen to come on ahead of Magassa during the recent 0-0 draw with Crystal Palace, and it appears the former would be a more popular sight than the latter against Arsenal.
Interestingly, only 16 per cent of you voted to bring in Adama Traore.
Speed-demon Traore is arguably the West Ham player best suited to exploiting Arsenal’s vulnerabilities on the counter-attack. Yet, it appears that a larger majority would rather see Callum Wilson play off Taty Castellanos in place of Pablo Felipe, with Jarrod Bowen and Crysencio Summerville keeping their spots out wide rather than drifting into a more central role to accommodate Traore.
Wan-Bissaka has not started a league match since returning late from DR Congo’s World Cup qualification. Kyle Walker-Peters held his own very respectably during a run of seven points from nine games against Wolves, Palace and Everton.
Walker-Peters endured a much tougher afternoon in last week’s 3-0 defeat by Brentford, though.
Wan-Bissaka’s famous slide tackles could come in extremely handy against Leandro Trossard or Gabriel Martinelli, both of whom are competing for the left-wing spot in Mikel Arteta’s attack.
What changes would you make to this team and why? 👀
In another Hammers News poll, you voted to keep El Hadji Malick Diouf ahead of Ollie Scarles at left-back. Diouf gave away a penalty against Brentford, as he did in October’s 2-0 defeat by Arsenal.
Nuno may be tempted to introduce a back five this time around. Thus, handing Diouf a wing-back role which could help to hide those defensive deficiencies. Jean-Clair Todibo, who received only 11 per cent of your votes, is an option to come in at centre-half alongside Konstantinos Mavropanos and Axel Disasi.
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