**Nuno Espirito Santo has named his starting squad ahead of the Burton FA Cup tie, where a handful of youth players have been given a chance to impress.**
West Ham’s rotated side in the cup has seen Bowen & Fernandes remain at home, which is what the majority of fans would’ve wanted, no point in risking the stars for the cup given our Premier League position, so I do believe he’s made the right call.
Furthermore, if your eyes peel toward the defensive aspect, it’ll become apparent that West Ham are playing a back five! A very defensive side against Burton, which consists of Scarles and Walker-Peters playing wingback, with Mayers, Kilman and Mavropanos in the central defender positions, the Greek being the captain for tonight. Certainly an interesting approach but Nuno likes to have that defensive control and might believe that the midfielders and attackers we have could still get the job done.
The heart of the midfield consists of Magassa as well as Kante, a full French midfield! Kante finally receives his first senior appearance after proving to be good enough on numerous occasions, and Nuno finally rewards him with an opportunity to be with the starting squad. Kante made one appearance in the Premier League for the Hammers and given how he played, we could suspect the Frenchman to play in a more attacking role and Magassa is there to pick up the pieces.
Ahead of the French midfield is Adama Traore, who also gets his first start for West Ham, alongside Lamadrid, who has been training with the first team for several weeks after scoring for the U21s and Wilson also finishes off the starting squad.
A team full of unfamiliar faces, but certainly a good side and you have to wonder if we hadn’t bought the players we did in January, as well as keep hold of Wilson, we pretty much would’ve had to play our starting side! – On the bench to sure up the squad, we do have the likes of Diouf, Summerville, Taty to provide a bit of firing power if required towards the end of the game, but youth talents Herrick, Orford and Ajala also make the bench.
Some might call it silly to see the introduction of a back five for this match, but given the youth players that we are fielding, it’s a wise choice and hopefully, with that said, Mavropanos can lead the team into battle and get the Hammers through to the last 16.