The absence of Jarrod Bowen presents David Moyes with a major headache as he plots West Ham’s bid to end Bayer Leverkusen’s 41-game unbeaten run in their Europa League quarter-final.
The Hammers’ top-scorer was not part of the squad that flew to Germany on Wednesday afternoon, having been ruled out of Thursday’s first leg due to the injury he suffered during Saturday’s 2-1 victory at Wolves.
Since Declan Rice’s departure, Bowen has emerged as West Ham’s clear talisman and has played a key part in some of the most iconic European wins of recent seasons, including scoring in both legs of the triumph over Lyon at this stage two years ago, as well as his famous winner in last season’s Conference League Final.
Without Bowen’s clinical edge up-front, and with key midfielder Edson Alvarez suspended, Moyes is missing arguably two of his best four players — Mohammed Kudus and Lucas Paqueta being the others — for West Ham’s biggest game of the season so far.
Emerson on the wing
Like-for-like replacements for Bowen are thin on the ground, with Pablo Fornals and Said Benrahma both allowed to leave in January without a winger being signed.
Beyond Kudus and Paqueta, forgotten man Maxwel Cornet is the only other wide player in the squad, but Moyes clearly does not trust the Ivorian, given he has started just one Premier League game all season.
Rather than send Cornet off the bench when Bowen was forced off at Molineux, Moyes shuffled his pack, bringing Aaron Cresswell on at left-back and pushing Emerson into an advanced role on the left wing in a 4-2-3-1 formation.
The move, eyebrow-raising at the time, worked a treat, as the Italian saw a fine back-post header disallowed and then won the penalty from which Paqueta scored West Ham’s leveller.
There is every chance Moyes sticks with that formula on Thursday night.
Return to wing-backs
There was a time when Moyes regularly switched between a back-four and a back-five, but this season he has settled firmly on the former system.
However, with Bowen out and no standout attacking candidate to replace him, the West Ham boss may be tempted to bring Nayef Aguerd back into the XI as a third centre-back in a 3-4-2-1 instead.
Leverkusen’s wing-backs are a huge part of their threat, and this change would allow the visitors to match the tactical set-up Xabi Alonso has employed to such devastating effect this season. A move to a back-five would provide fuel for those who need little invitation to bemoan Moyes’s cautious tendencies, but with Alvarez and possibly Bowen to return for the second leg, keeping the tie alive is the chief priority.
A Moyes defensive masterclass would do just fine.
Redemption for Phillips?
It says plenty for Kalvin Phillips’s desperate loan spell that this feels the least likely of the options discussed here.
Were Alvarez available, the midfield three that started at Wolves would probably do likewise here, but with the Mexican banned, Phillips is the only player capable of slotting in alongside Tomas Soucek and James Ward-Prowse in a 4-3-3.
However, while Moyes insisted after Phillips’s latest horror show at Newcastle last month that there is still time for his stint in east London to prove a success, it is telling that he has not featured in either of West Ham’s two matches since.
Fit and in form, a player of Phillips’s calm and experience would be a major plus on a night like this. As it is, though, picking the 28-year-old would represent a huge gamble.
