It’s not often we praise an international break for disrupting the domestic schedule, but my God, we all needed a break from Premier League football.
This summer’s European Championship, however, must be quickly fired in everyone’s minds, especially those with some form of West Ham United affiliation.
No, not because the club is involved in a relegation battle and needs to screw its head up to stay up, there is rather a very real opportunity to qualify for next season’s Champions League. West Ham definitely do not have the squad depth to handle something as stupid as that, but it would still be fun if they somehow removed the impossible – and as things stand, they could actually do it.
West Ham’s season started with a commanding victory over wolves | Justin Setterfield / Getty Images
First up in the run-in, a trip to Wolves at Molineux – a land where the Hammers have come quite late from late. But can the 4-0 thumping of Nuno Espirito Santos ‘side earlier in the season allude to David Moyes’ boys to more unexpected success?
Maybe, if these are the 11 who start the game …
Lukasz Fabianski (GK) – Understandably, would have been furious to concede three against Arsenal, given the position West Ham were in. Kept a clean sheet against Wolves earlier in the season, so more of the same here would be champions.Vladimir Coufal (RB) – Has anyone told you that Coufal at just £ 5 million is one of the season’s finds? Did not think.
Craig Dawson (CB) – In the same way, have you been informed that the man whose signature from Watford last summer was widely ridiculed by * control notes * is in fact the East London equivalent of chief Paolo Maldini? Again, did not think.
Issa Diop (CB) – He is not Angelo Ogbonna, but Diop crosses nicely in Hammer’s defensive pitch order – and keeps “general” Fabian Balbuena on the sidelines.
Aaron Cresswell (LB) – England’s third left-back has probably the best delivery in the Premier League right now. Wait, you’m not sure that’s true? How else do you explain all his assistants ?!
Declan Rice (CM) – Two men from the match performances for England have secured Rice’s position as the most important Three Lion behind Harry Kane. He has also played every minute of Premier League football this season, because of course he has.
Tomas Soucek (CM) – Scorer of a hat trick for the Czech Republic during the international break, it is confirmed that Soucek is the biggest thing since sliced bread. He is also a must for West Ham when he is in shape.
Jesse Lingard (AM) – After dancing to England’s second man in the match, JLingz has a real opportunity to force himself on the plane for this summer’s Euro. However, he has more work to do, starting here.
Jarrod Bowen (RW) – Great quick thinking from Lingard made it possible for Bowen to somehow beat Arsenal goalkeeper Bernd Leno on his close post last time out, but the former Hull man must stop fading in the second half of the matches.
Michail Antonio (ST) – Still does not look 100% if you ask us. Still, you can rely on giving maximum effort when the ball is at a distance close to him, otherwise you will probably find him hanging around at walking pace. All jokes aside, a real threat to the song.
Sa Benrahma (LW) – A first West Ham goal would be really, really, really beneficial to fully start Benrahma’s career in the East End. Algerian looks more than capable, but lacks some quality when it ultimately means.
