West Ham manager David Moyes has shown faith in Nikola Vlasic in recent weeks but that hasn’t been repaid in full.
Whilst the 24-year-old has been far from poor when handed a run of starts, it’s hardly been a period of stellar outings either.
As the Hammers prepare to take on Aston Villa at the London Stadium, Moyes has already confirmed talismanic winger Jarrod Bowen will remain absent.
"Regarding Jarrod, he’s not going to be available for the game at the weekend. We’re hoping he can continue to make some improvement. He’s getting slightly better."
🗣 The boss provided an update on Jarrod Bowen today in his pre-match press conference…#WHUAVL
— West Ham United (@WestHam) March 11, 2022
Despite the continued availability of Vlasic, Said Benrahma should be recalled into the starting lineup.
This season the 17-cap Algeria ace has scored eight times and provided four assists in 35 appearances across all competitions.
That makes the 26-year-old’s goal involvement record markedly better than his 24-year-old teammates, who has just one goal and two assists as an Iron.
Here’s how we think Moyes should lineup…
READ WEST HAM VERDICT
Predicted XI: Lukasz Fabianski; Ben Johnson, Craig Dawson, Kurt Zouma, Aaron Cresswell; Tomas Soucek, Declan Rice; Said Benrahma, Manuel Lanzini, Pablo Fornals, Michail Antonio.
Predicted Subs: Alphonse Areola, Mark Noble, Alex Kral, Issa Diop, Arthur Masuaku, Nikola Vlasic, Daniel Chesters, Armstrong Okoflex, Ryan Fredericks.
Moyes is relatively hamstrung in terms of being able to rotate fully for this one with players either absent or making their return to fitness.
However, bringing the £22.5million valued Benrahma in from the outset is a must in order to reignite a misfiring attacking line.
