West Ham United winger Pablo Fornals could come into the team’s starting line up against Aston Villa next Monday, according to Football London journalist Sam Inkersole.
The Hammers correspondent revealed the news on Tuesday, claiming that the summer signing could potentially replace 29-year-old Andriy Yarmolenko against the Villans.
The Spaniard has already opened his account for the east London outfit, having scored against Newport County in the Carabao Cup earlier last month.
Inkersole believes manager Manuel Pellegrini might be tempted to make the switch due to the intense workload Yarmolenko has already had this season coming, as he is, off a serious injury suffered last term.
OPINION
This is one potential change in the Hammers line up that would actually make sense. Pellegrini probably doesn’t need to tinker with his team that much given that the Irons are coming off three successive victories in all competitions. However, it would be sensible to take it easy with Yarmolenko. The Ukrainian missed almost the entirety of the last campaign due to injury, but has been a regular participant already this time round. With that amount of football under his belt already this term, it might be best to drop him to the bench for this one. It’s a decision that is made easier for Pellegrini because of the options he has who can come in and replace Yarmolenko. Chief amongst them is Fornals, who was bought for big money this summer. Presumably Pellegrini has big plans for him, and so this would seem like the ideal moment for him to be given a Premier League start against a newly promoted side like Villa.