Once again, Nuno Espirito Santo heads into a Championship matchday with pretty much a full squad of West Ham United players to choose from.

And while that is obviously a good thing – Keiber Lamadrid is the only absentee for Southampton on Saturday – it does create some problems. A fully fit squad means Nuno will once again have to make some difficult selection decisions.

And, yes, yes, ‘worlds smallest violin’ and all that. Nuno won’t be getting any pity from rival bosses sweating on the fitness of their stricken star men. For instance, Southampton could be without top scorer Cyle Larin and key midfielder Flynn Downes tomorrow, while the excellent Caspar Jander is not yet up to speed. How Tonda Eckert would like to be in Nuno’s boots.

Some West Ham United fans want Manor Solomon dropped

Yet, there is a fairly good chance that West Ham will kick off tomorrow with England, French and Argentina internationals on the bench, as well as a man with nearly 40 Premier League goals in Tomas Soucek, plus the 2025 Championship Golden Boot winner.

Some of Hammers News’ TalkingPoints users have lost patience with Manor Solomon, meanwhile, in the hope he will be the latest big name dropped from the XI.

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igrimshaw01

Austbo definitely to start, Solomon? I don’t think so

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Austbo’s tally of two means he has twice the number of goals as Taty Castellanos right now. Hammers News can confirm that there is concern behind the scenes about Castellanos’ performances. He’s had to make do with brief cameos in each of West Ham’s last two outings.

Taty Castellanos, Joel Piroe and Pablo all battle for a starting spot

Joel Piroe has also failed to find the net since the 6-0 victory over Lincoln a month ago, and has found paid with his own place in the XI.

In that time, Pablo has opened his league account, as well as assisting Mohamadou Kante to spark the comeback at Millwall. The tireless Pablo was a key part of West Ham’s gameplan at Swansea, too, helping to win the ball high in the build up to Mukasa’s winner.

If you had to pick between Pablo or Piroe, when selecting a striker to go one-on-one with the opposition goalkeeper, most of you would pick the man who scored 19 times in his last season at this level with Leeds in 2024/25. We’re not gonna argue with that.

But when Piroe’s not scoring, he’s usually anonymous. Say what you want about Pablo, he’s never not involved, for good or for bad.

But back at home and against a Southampton side with one of the division’s poorer away records, is this the moment to start trying to spark Taty and Piroe back into life?

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cumberworth57

Stick Taty back in, he’s too good to leave out and isn’t going to find form on the bench. Also will need the extra midfielder against a better side

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terrynorwood24946

Piroe over pablo every time.

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pwithey1

Think we would be better off playing Piroe, and playing him into form, with Engels playing in the AMF position behind him, Kante and Orford as the two deeper MF players. Astubo in place of Soloman.

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“I’m glad we are scoring lots of goals,” Nuno said during his press conference, West Ham racking up 33 from eleven matches largely despite their centre-forward options rather than because of them. “And if we continue and end up breaking records it will be a fantastic thing for us.

“But, we are focusing on competing, and trying to get the right results. In terms of the number of goals, if we score more than our opponent, then we are happy. I think a lot of it has to do with momentum. I think the players are working really well, and of course when they score there is a real boost of confidence, which translates to the next game.

“We hope the momentum is continuous, but we are aware that every game is different, and we have to be ready for every challenge.”