West Ham fans will be very much looking forward to their clash with Newcastle later today. The Hammers will be trying to get all three points on the board after losing narrowly to Manchester City in midweek. In that City game a young full-back Ben Johnson was given his debut, and the fans want to see more of him today.
Pellegrini has confirmed the news that Arnie, Masuaku And Cresswell should be available for tomorrow’s game but Balbuena still not fully fit
— ExWHUemployee (@ExWHUemployee) 1 March 2019
Ahead of that clash with Manchester City, the left-back was only thrown in because of injuries to both Aaron Cresswell and Arthur Masuaku yet ahead of Newcastle both of the senior defenders have recovered from minor knocks. Cresswell’s knock may not have been light, but his speedy recovery from a broken toe has led to a lot of the fans questioning it and calling for Johnson to keep his place.
The youngster featured for just over an hour in that game against Manchester City, yet this time around a lot of the fans are keen on seeing the 19-year-old play the full 90 minutes against Newcastle. Going up against Riyad Mahrez and Raheem Sterling is slightly different from facing Ayoze Perez with Javier Manquillo on the overlap, and it’s not hard to see why the Irons want to give Johnson another start.
You can read the Hammers’ thoughts on who should start at left-back here:
https://twitter.com/Billy83133275/status/1101475724739989505
Would rather play Johnson than Arthur if cresswell doesn’t make it
— B a r n e y (@BarneyForeman) March 1, 2019
Ben Johnson should start
— Luke BarnettCOYI’S (@LukeBar81276466) 1 March 2019
If masuaku starts it’s over for us
— rosie (@xrosiexmay) 1 March 2019
No need for masuaku. Just keep Ben johnson i'll say
— Dennis Chacko (@Den_Chacko) March 1, 2019
https://twitter.com/IronsManJP/status/1101527489262878721
Would rather Johnson at lb than masuaku
— will earle (@willearle_) March 1, 2019
The Hammers love the idea of seeing Johnson make a second consecutive start and will hope he can star against the Magpies.
