Three key West Ham stars have held a private meeting in a bid to save the club from relegation but two of them may be dropped for the Fulham clash on Wednesday night.
After turning their season around and breathing hope into the battle for Premier League survival, West Ham showed old habits die hard in the strange 5-2 defeat at Liverpool.
The Hammers were arguably the better side in open play, recording more possession and a higher xG than Liverpool only to undo all their good work by conceding three goals from corners.
West Ham’s deficiencies from set-pieces have been their Achilles heel all season long and the club are on course to break the unwelcome record of conceding the most in Premier League history if they ship another in the final 10 games.
This lineup is getting three points at the Cottage 🔥
Thoughts? Opinions?
I like Taty, but I’m not sure he can play up front on his own
The first of those sees the Irons travel across London to in-form Fulham, one of six games Nuno Espirito believes West Ham must win to survive.
Ahead of the London derby, three West Ham stars have held a private meeting to save their season but two of them could face the axe for Fulham.
West Ham know a win at Craven Cottage could see them climb out of the relegation zone for the first time since November and only the third time all season.
Hermansen, Disasi and Mavropanos meet to sort West Ham issues but two could be dropped
With 10 games to go, the Hammers are the most in-form team in the relegation mix which also includes Spurs, Nottingham Forest and Leeds.
Every time the Hammers have the chance to pile pressure on the sides above them they have flopped.
That’s why beating Fulham, with Forest away at Man City, is so crucial.
West Ham cannot allow themselves to be undone so laughably at set plays.
To that end, goalkeeper Mads Hermansen and centre-backs Konstantinos Mavropanos and Axel Disasi held a meeting after the Liverpool defeat.
That’s according to The Athletic who state Mavropanos, Disasi and Hermansen held a lengthy discussion between themselves after the loss at Anfield.
The report highlights that the trio have been key performers during West Ham’s recent upturn and are ‘hoping Liverpool was just a bump in the road’.
However, the shambolic nature of some of the defending means Nuno faces a major dilemma given what is at stake.
The worst in the Premier League 😡 Of all of the issues set to send us down, where does this one rank?!
Jean-Clair Todibo had been putting in some of his best performances since joining West Ham until his red card at Chelsea saw him banned for three games.
Disasi has come in from Chelsea since and taken Todibo’s spot and performed excellently, especially given he had not played a competitive game since last April.
Neither Disasi nor Mavropanos covered themselves in glory at set plays against Liverpool.
The same can be said of Hermansen, who came back into the side in place of Alphonse Areola in a surprise decision from Nuno following West Ham’s 3-2 defeat at Chelsea.
Nuno has since revealed why Hermansen has replaced Areola, explaining that the Dane’s superior footwork enables West Ham to play out from the back better.
Areola and Todibo could return for West Ham at Fulham
A large section of Hammers fans feel Areola was harshly dropped by Nuno.
And it has been argued that Areola would have made a better fist of stopping some of the goals West Ham conceded at Anfield.
So while Mavropanos, Disasi and Hermansen may have held a well-intended meeting about fixing West Ham’s problems against Fulham, two of them could be replaced in the side.
There is a chance Nuno could change things again by bringing back Todibo for Mavropanos and Areola for Hermansen.
Nevertheless it is heartening to hear that West Ham’s player care enough to hold such meetings in the first place.
It is that kind of commitment fans love to hear about and see – and that kind of commitment that could keep West Ham up.
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