West Ham trio Carlos Sanchez, Jack Wilshere, and Fabian Balbuena are all likely to start against Newport County, according to Claret and Hugh.
The club source revealed on their website that the three players who missed out on a starting place in the Hammers’ 3-1 victory over Watford on Saturday are likely to feature against Newport.
Claret and Hugh report that another player who missed the trip to Watford, Javier Hernandez, is unlikely to make the trip to Wales on Tuesday.
Balbuena was dropped after the opening day defeat to Manchester City, with Claret and Hugh also reporting that Manuel Pellegrini preferred having a left-right footed partnership in the heart of defence.
OPINION
With the Premier League campaign only just getting back into the swing of things, most of the Hammers’ squad will be returning to full fitness on top of that. Pellegrini will be wanting to rotate his squad accordingly, and players such as Sanchez and Balbuena will be chomping at the bit to get stuck into a game from the first whistle. Wilshere will also be raring to go and wanting to prove that he can string together a number of performances after the Daily Mail reported that he was paying for a private physio. With Balbuena having missed two games on the bounce despite being a mainstay last season, the Paraguayan will be wanting to prove to Pellegrini that he made a mistake in replacing him with Angelo Ogbonna. Sanchez missed 34 games last season, and if he can continue to complete consistent minutes for the Hammers, he could force his way into the first-team. Pellegrini is being smart and using all the resources available to him, with managing his player’s fitness pivotal this season.
