Graham Potter hasn’t had much luck with injuries since joining West Ham in early January, being without the likes of Jarrod Bowen, Crysencio Summerville, Lucas Paqueta and Niclas Fullkrug at times.
Potter has had to adapt with the players that are available to him, being forced to make decisions such as playing a back three with only one natural centre back, and playing a number 10 as a striker.
Despite the Hammers being down to their bare bones with available players, there seems to somehow be an improvement in performances compared to stages in the season when there was a near fully fit squad.
Because of this, West Ham fans will be eager to see what Potter can produce with a fully fit squad (which is admittedly unlikely), and how that would see West Ham line up, particularly with the recent additions to the squad of Evan Ferguson and James Ward-Prowse in the January window.
West Ham’s best XI
Graham Potter has already been playing his favoured formation of a 3-4-2-1 so far, which you would expect to remain the same if he had his pick of all the players.
Because of this, a definite starter at the back would have to be Max Kilman, and with Konstantinos Mavropanos having a difficult season, that would have to also see Jean-Clair Todibo making up one of the other two defenders.
The third of the back three could go any way, but I would expect Potter would favour Vladimir Coufal to complete the back line, purely because of his defensive abilities.
I would expect Potter would continue to pick Alphonse Areola in goal as he appears to have favoured the Frenchman over Lukasz Fabianski in recent games.
The wing backs write themselves – Aaron Wan-Bissaka and Emerson have comfortably been West Ham’s best full/wing backs this season.
In the midfield, it becomes tricky. With Ward-Prowse making a return to the club, he is one of quite a few midfielders Potter can choose from, with Tomas Soucek, Carlos Soler, Andy Irving, Edson Alvarez and Guido Rodriguez all being other options in that position.
Attacking wise, West Ham would have the likes of Jarrod Bowen, Mohammed Kudus, Paqueta, Summerville, Ferguson, Michail Antonio and Fullkrug all as options.
In my opinion, one of the midfielders that should start which has gone under the radar this season is Soucek, who has been very consistent both defensively and attacking, with the Czech international being West Ham’s second top scorer this season.
The player I would partner him up with is Soler, who has always looked solid when he’s played this season. Potter has been playing the Spaniard in a more attacking role in recent games, and it’s hard to know whether the manager thinks that’s his best position or it’s because of his lack of attacking options.
Either way, he would slot in perfectly in the centre of the park with his ability on the ball.
Two of the attacking players I think that are no-brainers are Bowen and Paqueta. Bowen is having another outstanding season and is now club captain, while Paqueta has excelled under Potter and is once more showing his class on the pitch.
The final attacker I would play as the centre forward is Ferguson, who we of course are yet to see in a West Ham shirt, but the fact he is a natural number nine who will be hungry to score goals means I think he would be a perfect fit, particularly playing alongside the quality of Paqueta and Bowen.
Kudus for me has simply not been anywhere near the level he was last season, and I think if Potter hypothetically had a full squad for the Hammers’ next game against Brentford, I don’t think the Ghanaian has done enough in recent games to warrant a start.
