**All the talk around West Ham over the past week has been the players that can’t start again on Sunday, but who are the players that have to play?**
The last two performances against Brentford and Leeds have been absolutely embarrassing and not many players have come out of the last week with any credit in the bank. But ultimately, as bad as we’ve been there are a handful of players that simply have to start against Newcastle.
1. **Jarrod Bowen**
The first player is the skipper, his inclusion doesn’t need to be explained. The 28-year-old hasn’t been good at all over the past couple of matches, but in reality no one has. And Bowen has been our best player for the past three or four years and has once again been our best player this season. He’s our only consistent goalscorer, our only consistent creator, and to be honest he’s the only consistent player in the squad.
2\. **Crysencio Summerville**
The flying Dutch winger has had a really tough time since joining West Ham. He was slow to settle in East London under Lopetegui, and missed the rest of the season with Potter due to injury.
He returned from injury earlier this season against Fores where he came on and completely changed the game for the Hammers and was involved in every goal in the 3-0 win, our only win of the season. This got Hammers fans excited, but he hasn’t quite kicked on from there.
He was awful at Elland Road on Friday, but even still, the 23-year-old has to start at the London Stadium against the Magpies. Not only is he the only option for the position, he’s the only player in the squad with pace which will be needed vs Newcastle, and is one of the only players who visibly looks like he cares.
3\. **El Hadji Malick Diouf**
The Senegalese star has been one of the very few shining lights for West Ham this season. Signed this summer for £19m from Slavia Prague, Diouf has continued our faultless record at signing players from the Czech giants.
The 20-year-old has been a breath of fresh air for the Hammers, despite the poor defence, individually Diouf has been pretty good defensively while also being a threat going forward, in fact, he’s probably been our most creative player this season from left-back.
His crossing is excellent, it’s bang on the money more often than not. He has the second most assists of any defender in the league other than Burnley’s Quilindschy Hartman who managed two against Burnley at the weekend. It’s crucial he starts or the team is relying solely on Bowen to create chances.
4\. **Freddie Potts**
Maybe the first of the two unobvious selections to the neutrals, but to West Ham fans Freddie Potts has to be a nailed on starter vs Newcastle and should have been since the start of the season.
Pretty much any midfield combination we’ve tried this season has been poor whether that includes Ward-Prowse, Soucek, Irving, Magassa Fernandes or Paqueta. But one player that for some reason hasn’t been given a start yet is Freddie Potts, and it’s time for Nuno to rely on the youngster.
The 22-year-old academy graduate has been around the first team for years now and he’s ready for the step up. He looked excellent in pre-season and has looked so much better in his substitute cameos than the players he replaced. He’s calm on the ball which can’t be said for a lot of the other options, his positioning is excellent and both his short and long passing are a vast improvement on the others
We saw how great he was when he came on against Leeds, the introduction of him and Fernandes (who should also start on Sunday), showed exactly why Nuno has to start the Barking-born Hammer.
5\. **Callum Wilson**
One of the biggest talking points this week apart from the defence has been he lack of striker, and many have said Callum Wilson has to start because he’s the only option. However, I think that’s harsh, the 33-year-old has earned a chance to start up front for the Hammers.
The signing of Wilson was surrounded by a lot of negativity, he’s already exceeded many fans expectations of the striker. After his awful season with both injuries and form at Newcastle last year, many doubted he was good enough for the Premier League anymore, but I think already he’s shown he still is.
Potter was reluctant to use him, but when he came on under the former Brighton manager, he impressed, even scoring against Nottingham Forest. And it was the same story for Wilson and Nuno, he didn’t even bring Wilson off the bench in the first three matches, even though we needed a goal in all of them.
Nuno Espirito Santo finally saw sense on Friday night and brought him on in the first half for Ollie Scarles, and while he didn’t exactly pull up any trees at Elland Road, we improved after he came on. So hopefully, Nuno continues to see sense and starts him this time on Sunday.
These are five players that must start, but what Nuno also must do is not go crazy with the rest of the starting XI. If we see Scarlet, Irving, Todibo and co in the lineup, even alongside these five, Nuno may start to feel the pressure of the Hammers fans.