Defence
Darren Randolph should stick to his position under the bar. Quite similar to Sunderland’s Jordan Pickford, Randolph started the season as the second choice, and impressive displays in EFL Cup and League has won the trust of Slaven Bilic. Now, with a more settled and experienced back four to protect the goal, his displays have also improved.
It seems Bilic has found the missing piece in West Ham United’s backline, which was immensely brittle in the first half of the season. Now with the former Southampton skipper Jose Fonte joining the side to partner with the ever-reliable Winston Reid, the Hammers have found the much-needed stability.
The defensive flanks have gone under numerous experimentation in the last few months with the likes of Aaron Creswell and Michail Antonio often moving up. The most suitable position for them would be full-backs who has all the ingredients for a rock-solid defence and at the same time, the ability to go up and provide the best of crosses.
Midfield
The safest option is to deploy a two-pivot midfield with three playmakers playing above to make things happen. Bilic has a decent duo of Pedro Obiang and Mark Noble in the deep midfield, who balance their offensive and defensive duties well.
Although West Ham fans couldn’t imagine their left-wing without Dimitri Payet at the start of the season, it seems like the Hammers are doing quite well without him now and Manuel Lanzini is doing just fine in that position. The right flank was a huge crisis for the most part of the season before a sudden resurgence of Sofiane Feghouli has more or less got that covered.
West Ham had the best buy of the January transfer window by winning the race for former Hull City ace Robert Snodgrass. The Scot has been excellent up front this season and could just be the perfect number 10 for Bilic. He has all the attributes to make things happen in front of the goal. His vision and ability to find perfect chip-ins behind the defence in quite unequalled and he already started making a huge difference for the Hammers.
Attack
Andy Carroll is no doubt the choice up front. The English forward took some time to get into the groove but has come back with a bang. He is clinical as ever and with Snodgrass and Lanzini to provide balls at his feet, he could turn up the heat.
Carroll
Lanzini – Snodgrass – Feghouli
Obiang – Noble
Cresswell – Fonte – Reid – Antonio
Randolph
