OPINION
West Ham haven’t exactly been racking up the wins as of late due to struggling in front of goal and Manuel Pellegrini has to make a bold gamble to see his side heap misery on Burnley.
The Hammers are set to host Sean Dyche’s side on Saturday at the London Stadium and Pellegrini needs to make a few changes to the side that started the EFL Cup clash with Tottenham on Wednesday.
Pellegrini’s team suffered a 3-1 loss at the hands of their London rivals and after handing several players an opportunity to impress in that fixture, they now have to make way after not taking their chance.
Lukasz Fabianski takes up his place between the sticks, replacing Adrian, with Fabian Balbuena coming in for Angelo Ogbonna and Pablo Zabaleta replacing Ryan Fredericks at right-back.
Arthur Masuaku despite struggling against Spurs keeps his place at left-back while Issa Diop also stays in the heart of the Hammers defence after being one of the only positives about his side’s recent clash.
In midfield due to Mark Noble’s suspension and injuries to Carlos Sanchez as well as Jack Wilshere, there’s not much Manuel Pellegrini can do so Declan Rice and Pedro Obiang must start in central midfield together.
Felipe Anderson is given a chance to redeem himself after some terrible displays recently by keeping his place in the starting line-up, with him hopefully being able to deliver the performance he is capable of.
Promising youngster Grady Diangana must keep his place, though be switched to the left flank, despite his lack of experience in the starting line-up as he was the club’s Man of the Match against Spurs.
The winger proved he could be a handful during that outing and if he keeps that level of performance up, he will have Burnley scrambling.
As for the right-flank, Pellegrini must boldly deploy Fredericks as a right-winger as the 26-year-old showed signs that his blistering pace could be a weapon in his latest outing.
The Hammers boss most boldly gamble playing him in a different position than his usual one of right-back and unshackle the speed demon from his defensive duties, which have previously caused him to look out of his depth in the Premier League.
Burnley don’t have the paciest of teams so Fredericks could have a field down if utilised as an attacking outlet.
Given the inclusion of Fredericks, this sees Michail Antonio axed from the team to make way as the winger wasted an opportunity that fell his way against Spurs.
The final change Pellegrini should make to ensure the Hammers heap misery on Burnley by defeating them sees him axe another wasteful attacker but this time in the form of Javier Hernandez.
The veteran didn’t make an effort to snatch his chance to shine against Spurs and he is axed so star attacker Marko Arnautovic can be restored to the starting line-up.
With Fredericks unshackled in a new position and the wasteful Antonio and Hernandez axed then this Hammers victory can get themselves amongst the goals and pick up three points from Saturday’s clash.
