West Ham manager Manuel Pellegrini doesn’t have tons of options to turn to and won’t make many changes when facing Manchester City on Saturday.
The Hammers manager is unlikely to instantly add Jack Wilshere and Andy Carroll to his starting line-up despite him confirming, as stated by Football.London, that the pair both worked with the squad in the week following spells out injured.
This is expected to be the case as the Hammers are tasked with facing the current Premier League leaders, so it’s likely Pellegrini will make minimal changes from the team that started against Huddersfield Town.
This means youngster Grady Diangana, summer recruit Felipe Anderson as well as Marko Arnautovic will be task with trying to fire the Hammers to a positive result against Pep Guardiola’s side.
It’s also very likely that the experienced manager won’t tinker with his defensive line up as it has served him well in recent weeks, and his other options aren’t exactly knocking on the door to change his mind.
However the manager’s hands are tied when it comes to Robert Snodgrass as the Scotland international picked up his fifth yellow card of the season against the Terriers and is now unavailable to feature against Man City as a well.
The Hammers’ workhorse will be replaced by an option that Pellegrini has previously trusted this season in the form of Mark Noble.
The experienced midfielder was previously suspended himself after receiving a red card against Leicester City, but is available once again for Saturday’s clash.
Pellegrini is expected to utilise Noble as he’s only other options would see him banking on an untested youth player or the fitness of Wilshere, and against such high calibre opposition it would not be the manager’s nature.
Therefore Pellegrini is likely to keep with the team that drew 1-1 with Huddersfield Town bar that one change as the Hammers look to cause an upset.
