Since Graham Potter’s arrival at West Ham, attacking options have been limited due to injuries, which has seen the likes of Lucas Paqueta playing as a ‘centre forward’ at times.
Potter has been without Jarrod Bowen, Crysencio Summerville, Michail Antonio and Niclas Fullkrug for the majority of his games in charge so far.
However, we might see more of what kind of football Potter is capable of getting his team to play in the near future, with Paqueta, Bowen, Mohammed Kudus, and new man Evan Ferguson all potentially at his disposal for West Ham’s clash with Brentford this weekend.
An obvious name that stands out amongst those players is, of course, January signing Ferguson, who is the only one who can truly be labelled as a centre forward.
Hammers have notoriously not had much luck with strikers over the years and will be desperate for this to change with the Irishman, but with the player being a natural number nine, it feels like he has to be in contention to feature this weekend.
It’s fair to say most West Ham fans know Bowen works best off the right, and despite being the Hammers’ top goal scorer last season in a campaign in which he was often playing through the middle, it feels like he truly performs his best as a winger, so it’s hard to see him playing anywhere else with Ferguson in the starting XI.
The other two options, Paqueta and Kudus, offer the ability to unlock a defence and produce moments of magic that can lead to goals, and would most likely be able to play anywhere in the final third.
Who will Potter use?
Potter’s preferred formation is a 3-4-2-1, which I expect he will use this weekend, which leads to the obvious question: who doesn’t play?
Under the assumption Paqueta is fit, you could make the argument he can play deeper and as one of the centre midfielders, but I can’t see this happening. I think he’s much better suited higher up the pitch, which we’ve seen from his performances since Potter’s arrival.
In truth, I think Ferguson might start on the bench due to his lack of games for Brighton this season, meaning it could be a front three of Paqueta, Kudus and Bowen.
However, if Ferguson is sharp enough to start, I would make the controversial decision to drop Kudus, which would make room for a natural striker in a front three.
Kudus has been far off the levels he produced last season, recording only five goal contributions so far compared to the 25 he got in the 2023/24 season, and quite simply his heart just doesn’t seem to be in it at the moment.
Summerville’s return date is unknown but is a lot more likely to be this season than Antonio and Fullkrug, who have both been out in Dubai for rehab.
The 23-year-old has looked brilliant since joining the Hammers last summer and has to be considered an option in Potter’s front three once fit, which ultimately will give the manager a bit of a headache when he has all these players available.
I do believe the creativity of Paqueta, the goals and sheer brilliance of Bowen, and the physicality and eye for goal of Ferguson would make our most dangerous trio, and if they click, they could cause defenders some serious problems.
