West Ham United secured their first league win in eight games at Stamford Bridge on Saturday, handing Chelsea a 1-0 defeat to take some pressure off manager Manuel Pellegrini.
The Chilean will be hoping to lead the Hammers to their fifth victory of the season when they visit Wolverhampton Wanderers tomorrow, and picking up another three points on the road against such tough opponents will be huge.
West Ham will need to name their best starting XI and put in a top performance to have a chance against Wolves, though, and Sky Sports pundit Charlie Nicholas has told Pellegrini to take Sebastien Haller and Felipe Anderson out of the team.
“What a result for West Ham at Chelsea. Manuel Pellegrini was on the brink of losing his job and his side pulled something out of the hat for him. They got their shape right, defended well and were a threat on the counter-attack. They do have a softness about them, though,” Nicholas said.
“Declan Rice and Mark Noble are decent and know how to work together, and know when to stifle the game, but it is a learning curve for Rice still.
Michail Antonio brings the power and strength but West Ham are too nice.
“Sebastien Haller has gone cold and Felipe Anderson has been poor. You have to take them out of the team, work with them on the basics, and build them up again.”
The French striker – who cost West Ham £45 million in the summer – and the Brazilian winger – a £36 million signing – have both been underwhelming of recent.
Andersson is yet to score this term, while the last of his three assists came eight games ago.
Haller has scored four goals so far, but is without one in his last six appearances, and he was afforded just 14 minutes against Chelsea.
The duo need to start performing again, and following Nicholas’ advice could do Pellegrini some good.
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