View: Three ways West Ham can line-up in defence v Man United after Gold update

Fri 28 July 2017 13:33, UK

COMMENT By Will Butcher

Slaven Bilic must work out who will start in his West Ham defence ahead of the Hammers’ Premier League opener against Manchester United on August 13.

It remains to be seen what formation the Croat manager will decide to play, after using a three-man defence as well as a standard back four during the 2016-17 campaign.

Co-owner David Gold revealed on his personal Twitter account a major injury boost regarding New Zealand international Winston Reid, who is currently overcoming a knee problem.

Reid, 29, missed the Confederations Cup with his country because of the problem but Gold revealed that Reid is optimistic over a return to first-team training “on Monday”.

Winston Reid is ‘on schedule’ and hoping to return to full training with the first team squad on Monday. dg pic.twitter.com/kasP4y6Ahs
— David Gold (@davidgold) July 28, 2017

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However, if Reid does not recover completely in time to face United, Bilic will have to make some adjustments at the back.

Football Insider analyses three different ways the Hammers could line up at the back against Jose Mourinho’s side, including how Joe Hart could be set to marshal a five-man defence: