The team news for today’s game against West Ham is as much interesting for who is on the bench as who is in the team. Our subs in midweek were all youngsters – there wasn’t a single outfield player there with a Premier League start to their name. Today is very different.
Levi Colwill, Christopher Nkunku, Raheem Sterling, Axel Disasi and Malo Gusto are all back on the bench, adding a much needed layer of depth to the squad. Thiago Silva’s restoration to the starting line up means that Alfie Gilchrist can drop down to substitute status, giving further depth.
We’re not sure how many of them are fit to play more than a few minutes, but if the team starting the game does their part that shouldn’t be necessary. Manager Mauricio Pochettino wouldn’t be naming them as subs if they weren’t fit to at least feature at some stage, giving the ten players that started against Tottenham less than 72 hours ago the chance for a breather later on.
Options open us for final games
There are still 3 games left to play after this one, and it looks like Pochettino will have a lot more options to work with in those fixtures.
Not only will all of those players newly added to the bench today have the chance to start, there should be further additions. Ben Chilwell’s problem was only supposed to be minor, and we wouldn’t be surprised to see him in full training next week.
Plus there’s Lesley Ugochukwu, who has already been in training with the team. He should be ready for the bench next time out. Overall, our game next Saturday against Nottingham Forest should see us restored to a much better level. If we can squeeze out 3 points today, a much stronger squad will travel to the City ground with it all to play for.