David Moyes now has a big self-inflicted headache over West Ham star Nayef Aguerd for the game against Arsenal.
West Ham take on Arsenal in a huge Premier League clash at the London Stadium this weekend.
When everyone is fit the majority of West Ham’s starting XI picks itself. And that has been a problem for David Moyes this season with the back-up players simply nowhere near the same level.
Arsenal obviously have more quality in depth than the Hammers in most positions.
So Mikel Arteta is used to having selection headaches.
Moyes however, is not. And he has always maintained he prefers working with a smaller squad.
Moyes has Aguerd headache for Arsenal
He got his wish after the January window as West Ham – alongside Man City – now have the thinnest squad in the top flight with 22 senior players.
One position where West Ham do have some competition is at centre-back.
And Moyes now has a big self-inflicted headache over West Ham star Nayef Aguerd for Arsenal.
Ask any West Ham fan to name the club’s best player in the memorable 2-0 win at Arsenal at the end of December and Konstantinos Mavropanos won’t be far off the top of the list.
The former Gunners defender starred against his old side and scored a magnificent header too.
READ ALSO: Moyes raves about star showing there’s life after Dec
A self-inflicted issue
When Aguerd made himself unavailable over Christmas due to illness before meeting up with Morocco for AFCON, Mavropanos came in and – bar a terrible mistake at Bristol – performed very well indeed.
He was West Ham’s best player in the drab 1-1 draw with Bournemouth last week.
But Moyes surprisingly dropped the Greek international for Aguerd for the 3-0 defeat to Man United last time out.
It was a strange and very harsh decision.
Aguerd possesses a wand of a left foot. But he also has the propensity to make very costly errors on a regular basis – as Morocco found out when they were dumped out of AFCON by South Africa.
There was so much hype around Aguerd when he arrived in a £30m deal from Rennes. But it is fair to say he has not really lived up to it.
The defence looked weaker with Aguerd in it at Old Trafford and he was partially at fault for two of the goals.
Get him to the Greek
After the game Moyes defended his decision to drop Mavropanos for Aguerd, saying he likes having a left-footed defender for balance. But he admitted the 26-year-old must improve aspects of his game.
Now the Scot must decide whether to recall Mavropanos – who was also excellent in the 3-1 win over Arsenal in the league cup.
Kurt Zouma has been far from impressive from late too. So perhaps Mavropanos could come back in alongside Aguerd if Moyes insists on picking the Moroccan. But he is highly unlikely to drop his captain.
The manager has given himself this problem. Mavropanos had the shirt and should have kept it until his form dictated otherwise.
Ask Arsenal’s players and fans who they would prefer to face, Aguerd or Mavropanos. The answer will tell you everything you need to know.
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