WHZ View: Moyes should stick with Fornals v Chelsea, despite flop last time out
West Ham star Pablo Fornals was far from his best against Crystal Palace and David Moyes may now consider his position in the team to face Chelsea.
The Spaniard has been a favourite of Moyes this season, becoming renowned for work rate and defensive contributions.
With this in mind, we believe that Moyes should stick with Fornals, providing he is fit enough to start and play beyond the half-way mark.
For all his struggles against Palace, he did manage to win 100% of his duels and complete a respectable 88% of his passes during the time he was on the pitch, according to Wyscout.
Fornals, who has two goals and two assists this season, may have simply become a victim of his own success under Moyes this season, with fatigue merely catching up with him during the game against Palace.
Frank Lampard has often preferred to use a 4-3-3 system this season, so Fornals’ work rate and tendency to drift inside into central positions could be invaluable in ensuring that the likes of Declan Rice and Tomas Soucek do not get overrun in the middle of the park.
You only have to look at the player’s heatmap for this season – courtesy of Wyscout – to appreciate the work he gets through and to understand that he is anything but a traditional winger.
His place in the team is a testament to how well he has done this season for West Ham. Previously pundits such as Paul Robinson have slammed the player for his ‘underwhelming‘ performances at the London Stadium.
The game against Brighton next Sunday could be the better opportunity to rest Fornals and allow Moyes to go and attack Graham Potter’s side at home.
Without Fornals against Chelsea, Moyes risks losing a huge element of what has made the Hammers so impressive in recent weeks.
In other West Ham news, Hammers must take advantage of weakened Chelsea right side