**Nuno Espírito Santo opted to go with a back five against Burton, which might’ve surprised some, but given our win, should Nuno play the same against Bournemouth?**
The game against Bournemouth is a crucial Premier League fixture and one that the Hammers will be desperate to win after going through the FA Cup Fifth round for the first time in over three years.
Against Burton, Nuno played a heavily defensive side, which saw West Ham start with a back five and that caused questions to be raised amongst fans and rightly so given how the game played out. Whilst Nuno’s side might’ve achieved another clean sheet, making it two in the last three, the performance was far from glamorous and come the end of the match, Burton ended up with 19 shots.
West Ham fans over and over again, have seen for some reason that the squad defends better whilst playing four defenders, not five.
Once we return to the Premier League, we simply have to start with a back four. There are some slightly raised alarm bells given that Jean-Clair Todibo is back meaning we have four senior central defenders available, but even with that availability, I hope that we play two only and perhaps substitute on someone layer down the game if required.
Playing with a back five causes Nuno’s side to lose all midfield and attacking capability and simply puts West Ham under massive amounts of threat. If you peel your eyes back to the Burnley game, once we were facing the pressure, substituted on Potts, a midfielder, to see out the game and against Manchester United, we started another midfielder… not a defender!
If Nuno Espírito Santo is to start five defenders against Bournemouth, he will be placing the Hammers under a world of trouble, a back four is the only correct answer available.