Having gone into the international break inside the bottom three, West Ham will be looking to kickstart their season when they return to action this weekend, and David Moyes could make a couple of bold selection calls.
One of which could be finally handing boyhood Hammers fan Flynn Downes his first Premier League start.
The £12m summer signing from Swansea City could benefit from the ill-form of Tomas Soucek, whose woes continued while on international duty this past weekend.
Blasted for an “awful” error against Everton by journalist Alan Rzepa, Soucek was then labelled ‘completely useless’ by Czech outlet Seznam Zpravy following his performance in the Czech Republic’s 4-0 loss to Portugal.
The 27-year-old has started each of the Irons’ seven league games thus far but, amid a dip in form, it could be an opportune time for Moyes to let him recharge the batteries having played the second most minutes in the squad last season.
The 2020/21 Hammer of the Year has been one of Moyes’ most used players but journalist Paul Brown has said that the 6 ft 4 in enforcer hasn’t looked the same player this season amid an ongoing contract dispute.
Downes could now get his chance in the spotlight after making three appearances in the Europa Conference League, impressing in his only start against FCSB.
He posted a 7.3 SofaScore match rating on the night, second only to Emerson (7.5) among his teammates who started the game, which led to calls from writer Joshua Mbu for the 23-year-old gem to start against Newcastle, which was eventually postponed.
Nonetheless, the Championship’s most accurate passer (92.6%) from last season could be thrust into the starting line-up for the visit of Wolves.
Hailed as ‘tremendous’ by ex-Leeds striker Noel Whelan, Soucek still ranks second among his teammates for average match rating (SofaScore) and is one of only three Hammers to score in the Premier League this season.
However, he could lose his place to the 5 ft 8 in Downes, who has been described as ‘incredible’ and a player who ‘does the dirty work’ by his former boss Russell Martin.
With five defeats in their last seven games, something has got to give at the London Stadium this weekend and throwing in an inexperienced Downes could be the better of two evils, with Soucek coming under increasing scrutiny that has only intensified since the loss at Goodison Park.
