West Ham United will be looking to make it two wins in a row in the Premier League when they travel to face Huddersfield Town on Saturday.
Manuel Pellegrini’s side are on a high after last weekend’s 4-2 victory over Burnley, meaning that the former Manchester City boss is unlikely to make many changes for this contest.
Indeed, in all probability the Chilean will only make one alteration from the team that defeated the Clarets, with Aaron Cresswell dropping out at left back in favour of the polarising Arthur Masuaku.
Other than that the team picks itself, really. Certainly the goalkeeper position is a no brainer. Lukasz Fabianski has been one of the club’s finest players this season and will surely continue in between the sticks on Saturday.
Pablo Zabaleta, Fabian Balbuena and Issa Diop are all pretty much automatic selections at this point and it would be a huge shock if any of them were not selected against the Terriers.
As mentioned above, Masuaku will likely come in for Cresswell, who is on a reported £50,000-per-week [Source: Spotrac]. Pellegrini has shown a propensity for chopping and changing his left backs this season and, after Cresswell failed to impress against Burnley, it’s safe to assume that Masuaku will get the call for this one.
Declan Rice will surely continue in the defensive midfield role in the team’s 4-1-4-1 formation. The teenager delivered another virtuoso performance last time out and is almost undroppable at this stage.
Grady Diangana, Robert Snodgrass and Felipe Anderson all impressed to varying degrees against Sean Dyche’s side and will likely continue here, while Pedro Obiang will probably be asked to shoulder the defensive load in central midfield.
Marko Arnautovic is a near certainty to start up front. The Austrian is the team’s best player and netted again against Burnley – he must continue in attack.
