West Ham United are in a precarious position as they host Bayer Leverkusen at the London Stadium for the Europa League quarter-final second leg tomorrow evening.
Manager David Moyes faces a monumental task, not only needing to overturn a two-goal deficit but also navigating a crippling injury crisis.
The Hammers have been in a rut since the start of the year, managing just four wins in our last 20 games.
Last week’s performance against Leverkusen was abysmal, to say the least, leaving us with a mountain to climb. Needless to say, we have to be better by a country mile to even dream of reaching the semi-finals.
Moyes needs an aggressive, positive-thinking approach against the Bundesliga champions, and if we get the London Stadium rocking, we may have a chance at turning the tie around.
However, Moyes may well be working with one hand tied behind his back as he could be without up to seven first-team players for the crucial contest.
The weekend’s Premier League defeat to Fulham was compounded by a worrying head injury to young George Earthy, who is out alongside Kalvin Phillips and Alphonse Areola.
Our top scorer, Jarrod Bowen, is also a major doubt despite returning to training, although Moyes may be forced to gamble on his fitness if we’re to stand any chance against Leverkusen.
In addition, Lucas Paqueta and Emerson Palmieri are suspended, while Konstantinos Mavropanos, who hasn’t completed a full game in our last two outings, is also a question mark for the Leverkusen clash.
With a depleted squad and a mountain to climb, Moyes’ magic touch will be sorely needed if we are to pull off a miracle against the German champions.
West Ham potential starting line-up:
(3-5-2): Lukasz Fabianski; Kurt Zouma, Angelo Ogbonna, Aaron Cresswell; Vladimir Coufal, Edson Alvarez, Tomas Soucek, James Ward-Prowse, Ben Johnson; Mohamed Kudus, Michail Antonio.