4th December 2025 Daniel Luker (@danielluker_)
By Louis Nixon
Lucas Paqueta has found himself missing another fixture but this time due to receiving his red card against Liverpool rather than the five yellows he picked up previously.
Despite the media tangents that have caused drama after the Paqueta sending off, Nuno primary problem remains that against Manchester United tonight, someone has to fulfil his shoes and with no direct replacement available, it causes a toss up between a few players in who could possible start.
The first and most likely choice to replace the Brazilian would be Matheus Fernandes, since signing for the club he’s been superb in the majority of the games he’s appeared in, and considering that he’s a player who enjoys driving the ball forward and picking out a pass, he could be the ideal candidate for the ‘10 role’ with Magassa or Soucek filling in at DM for him.
However, whilst Fernandes makes the most sense and appears in my eyes to be best suited for this type of game in the attacking role, against Bournemouth when we found ourselves without Paqueta for the first time, Nuno decided to start Guilherme and play five defenders which could certainly be an option for tonight’s game.
There aren’t many more options seeing as the squad depth situation is quite dire at this moment in time, but we’ve also got George Earthy who could make an appearance, or perhaps a more radical option being available in Tomas Soucek playing a forward role from kick off rather than a sub situation which has been utilised previously.
My ideal choice would be Fernandes to inherit Paqueta’s role seeing as it opens a window of opportunity for either 5 defenders or 3 midfielders to take part, and seeing Fernandes tends to stride up the pitch, he could provide players with wisdom which is something we’ll certainly need tonight.
It’s not an ideal situation but we’ll have to make do, let’s just hope it doesn’t prove to be too costly for the Hammers.