West Ham United need to change their centre-back pairing for the weekend clash with Leicester City.
Questions have been asked of West Ham United’s defence all season, and for now at least the January signing of Jose Fonte does not appear to have solved the problem.
The Hammers’ 3-2 defeat at Bournemouth last time out left fans frustrated and their manager Slaven Bilic has some big decisions to make ahead of the weekend clash with Leicester City.
First and foremost, he should play a right-back in their natural position and partner Cheikhou Kouyate alongside Pedro Obiang, but he should also make a change at centre-back and recall James Collins in favour of Fonte.
Whether Bilic does that remains to be seen; after all, dropping your big-name January in March signing is a statement in itself. But at this stage of the season it is a statement that needs to be made.
Collins has been an unused substitute in West Ham’s last three league matches and he has not started since mid-January.
West Ham won that match 3-0 against Crystal Palace but the Hammers have not kept a clean sheet since and it is time the 33-year-old got another chance alongside Winston Reid.
Bilic needs to start making big calls, and if not now, then when?
Receive exclusive football transfer news and updates twice a week to your mailbox
