Credit: Imago

James Barker

Sat 21 March 2026 19:40, UK

Nuno Espirito Santo played with wing-backs against Man City last time out, and should stick with that approach when West Ham United play Aston Villa on Sunday.

Nuno is going to need to use all of his coaching nous and experience to mastermind West Ham’s Premier League survival bid over the coming weeks.

Time and games are running out, and the Hammers are currently sitting 18th and occupying the final relegation place, but only thanks to an inferior goal difference to Nottingham Forest.

Now is the point of the season where key players and brave tactical decisions can make all the difference between staying up and going down, and the Hammers are going to require some top showings in those departments between now and the end of term.

West Ham take on Aston Villa on Sunday, and if they are to take something back home with them from their trip to Villa Park, they’ll have to do so without star winger Crysencio Summerville.

Why Nuno must stick with wing-backs against Aston Villa

Summerville is dealing with a calf problem, and has already been ruled out for the clash with Villa by Nuno.

Indeed, the Dutch winger didn’t play any part in West Ham’s 1-1 draw with Man City last time out, with his last action for the Irons coming in the FA Cup win over Brentford on 9 March.

That forced Nuno to get creative against the Cityzens, as he opted to go with a back three, with Malick Diouf and Aaron Wan-Bissaka deployed as wing-backs.

Now of course, West Ham had to ride their luck at times and could’ve easily lost the game against Pep Guardiola’s side, but they didn’t, and so this tactical tweak by the Hammers boss worked.

And so, against a Villa side that have conceded nine goals in their last three Premier League games, it would make a lot of sense for Nuno to go with this approach again at Villa Park.

With no Summerville in the team, West Ham’s options in terms of natural wingers are extremely limited, with only Jarrod Bowen, Adama Traore and Keiber Lamadrid the senior choices.

Traore has offered very little in his handful of Hammers showings so far, and Lamadrid is probably not quite ready to be thrown in from the start in a crucial Premier League game.

Therefore, Nuno’s side would look far stronger and solid with Wan-Bissaka and Diouf down the flanks, and that means you can still have Bowen in the team up top as a striker.

Whether that’s on his own in a 3-4-2-1, or as a pairing with any one of Taty Castellanos, Pablo or Callum Wilson respectively; surely any of these options would be better than calling on Traore or Lamadrid to start on one of the wings?

West Ham have to take the game to Aston Villa

As aforementioned, Unai Emery’s side are on an extremely poor run of form in the Premier League from a defensive point of view, shipping nine goals across their last three games with Man United, Chelsea and Wolves respectively.

The Villans are also experiencing an atmosphere problem at Villa Park, and West Ham will find there a nervy and frustrated set of home fans who are fearing their team dropping out of the top four entirely in the coming weeks.

So, whether it’s wing-backs or wingers, the message from Nuno to his Hammers players should be clear and simple: attack, attack, attack.

A win in the West Midlands would set the Irons up perfectly for a home clash with Wolves on 10 April, and who knows, at this stage of the season, two wins could possibly be enough to keep them in the division.