Graham Potter is a man under pressure at West Ham United but Enzo Maresca – head coach of Friday’s opponents and Premier League giants Chelsea – has a few problems of his own to deal with.
It is not all rosy in the so-called ‘World Champions’ garden, that’s for sure.
A drab goalless draw at home to Crystal Palace was certainly not the flying-out-the-blocks start Maresca was hoping for at Stamford Bridge.
Jarrod Bowen was ‘fuming’ with his West Ham United teammates after their calamitous 3-0 loss in Sunderland 23 hours earlier, but the man in charge of Chelsea was not particularly pleased with his own side’s opening weekend stumbles.
Just to complicate matters ahead of Friday’s trip to the London Stadium, Maresca has a handful of players unavailable for a variety of reasons, fitness and transfer-induced.
West Ham were made aware of Raheem Sterling’s availability a few weeks back. And while this does not appear to be an opportunity they will take up – Tony Cottee is warning the Hammers off Sterling – the England international is one of a number training away from the rest of Maresca’s first-team squad.
So, while West Ham may be without only Crysencio Summerville and George Earthy, this is a Chelsea side counting the cost of injuries to Romeo Lavia and Benoit Badiashile, plus the seemingly never-ending speculation surrounding Sterling, Nicolas Jackson, Christopher Nkunku and Ben Chilwell.
Enzo Maresca rules out six Chelsea players for West Ham United trip
Speaking during his pre-match press conference on Thursday morning, Maresca confirmed that defensive duo Tosin Adarabioyo and Wesley Fofana are available again after both missed that Crystal Palace clash.
Tosin could come straight back into the starting XI, potentially in place of young Josh Acheambong, but Fofana’s involvement is less certain.
The Frenchman has missed more games than he’s placed since joining Chelsea in a £75 million deal from Leicester City, with his most recent minutes coming in March. However, Friday will come too soon for Romeo Lavia and Benoit Badiashile.
“Romeo is still out. Benoit is still out,” Maresca begins. “Wes is back. Tosin is available. He’s available for tomorrow.”
Scorer of 13 goals last season, hard-running frontman Nicolas Jackson will be left at home as Chelsea look to find a buyer. The aforementioned duo of Sterling and Chilwell find themselves stuck in the Stamford Bridge ‘bomb squad’, with Nkunku available for transfer too.
“[Jackson] is available but he’s not going to be part of the squad because we have two strikers, we have two players in that position and also we know that something can happen before the transfer window closes,” Maresca adds.
“Christo [Nkunku] is with us like Nico, but it’s the same answer as Nico. And the other two players, they are training apart, waiting for some solution.”
That is six players who cost a combined £264 million, all ruled out of that West Ham clash.
West Ham still hope to sign Mateus Fernandes as Graham Potter issues demand
The Hammers can only dream of being able to throw money around with such careless abandon at present.
Graham Potter has signed only two players for transfer fees this summer – El Hadji Malick Diouf and goalkeeper Mads Hermansen.
Hammers News have been informed that West Ham remain determined to sign Mateus Fernandes from Southampton though, with an acceptance at St Mary’s that a bid in the region of £40 million should be enough to seal the deal.
Potter is demanding immediate improvements at West Ham, meanwhile, on the back of that Wearside debacle. The defensive trio of Jean-Clair Todibo, Max Kilman and Nayef Aguerd struggled to deal with Sunderland’s quality in wide areas as Mads Hermansen endured an ‘awful’ debut between the sticks.
It is unlikely that life will get much easier for the Hammers quartet up against Cole Palmer, Joao Pedro and co, even if Chelsea’s attack looked about as sharp as an antique butterknife last time out.
Maresca, though, is not taking the threat of a wounded West Ham lightly.
“[This will be a] tough game again. All the Premier League games, they are tough, they are difficult,” says the former Manchester City reserve coach, recalling Aaron Wan-Bissaka’s late own goal the last time the two sides met in the spring.
“If you remember, the game at home last year was a difficult game for us. They defended very well. Tomorrow, I expect exactly the same.
“And again, the Premier League just started, so you can see that they are trying to find some solution in the same way we are doing.”
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