A load of West Ham United fans have been sharing on Twitter who they would prefer to see take on Liverpool on Monday night, with many calling for Declan Rice to slot in at centre-back.
The Irons continue to be without the services of Fabian Balbuena after the Paraguayan was ruled out for up to two months with a knee injury ahead of the Arsenal clash on January 12.
Losing the 27-year-old has left Manuel Pellegrini with Issa Diop and Angelo Ogbonna as the only senior centre-backs available, and cannot offer Reece Oxford his first start in more than a year as the 20-year-old has joined Augsburg on loan for the remainder of the season.
The Gunners’ visit to Stratford, unfortunately, also marks the last time the Hammers won a game, as Pellegrini’s men have suffered humbling defeats to Bournemouth, AFC Wimbledon and Wolverhampton Wanderers in the three fixtures since.
In the hope of a change of fortunes, and to avoid a third defeat to Liverpool in 12 months, many West Ham fans are now calling for Pellegrini to make changes to his side and drop defensive midfield ace Declan Rice into the backline, either at the expense of Ogbonna or alongside the Italian…
I’d personally drop rice back into centre half with diop, obiang fill his role in midfield and push Ogbonna to left back
— AdamWHU94 (@aParlett13) February 3, 2019
Rice needs to play CB tomorrow over Ogbonna.
— ⚒⚒TonyCOYI⚒⚒ (@CoyiTony) February 3, 2019
Fabianski, Fredericks, diop, Rice, Antonio| noble, Snodgrass, Anderson, Masuaku| Arnie, Chicha. Weird ik but I think Masuaku would be better as a winger swap him and Antonio. Rice in cb for the Japanese disaster
— Felipe Anderdad (@FelipeAnderdad) February 4, 2019
Rice would be even better if he played cb
— Lewis (@DeclannRice) February 4, 2019
Depending on fitness of a few players (Cresswell Arnautovic) this is the team I’d go with. We’ll need cover in the middle so go with 3 CMs. Rice to play very deep, almost as a CB. Antonio has to be on the wing purely to cover zab. Please win pic.twitter.com/aWmq2gxQNi
— Chris (@chriscod1993) February 3, 2019
Fab
Fredrick Rice Diop Cresswell
Zab Noble
Holland Snoddie Anderson
Antonio— 父 Adam Smith 父 (@Adam27996) February 4, 2019
@hammers_chat I know that our strikers aren’t exactly breaking any records but, how would this work?
GK: Fabianski
DR: Fredericks
DC: Rice
DC: Diop
DL: Zaba
MC: Noble
MC: Anderson
MC: Snoddy
FL: Perez
FC: Hernandez
FR: AntonioWould this be useful as a 433?
— Árni (@Arni16093017) February 3, 2019