West Ham vs Derby: Surely We Can’t Make This Complicated?

After the usual frantic collective madness of deadline day, the dust has finally settled on the transfer window. The fax machines have stopped humming ominously, the rumours have evaporated into thin air, and we are left with the squad we actually have until January.

Thank goodness for that.

With all the unsettling noise finally behind us, one hopes Nuno and the boys can settle into something vaguely resembling a consistent rhythm. Because, if we’re being entirely honest, predictability has not exactly been West Ham’s strong suit this season.

Trying to work out which version of West Ham is going to saunter out of the tunnel at the London Stadium has become a weekly exercise in mild neurosis. One minute we’re dropping points at home to Charlton and labouring to a frustrating draw with Watford. The next, we’re putting four past Wolves on Tuesday night and looking like absolute world-beaters.

It is the classic East London experience: baffling, mildly stressful and utterly impossible to look away from.

On paper, Saturday’s visit from Derby County should be a relatively straightforward afternoon at the office. John Eustace’s side have endured a somewhat sticky start to their own campaign, dropping points in three of their last five games and looking like a team still trying to piece things together.

They’ll likely arrive with a stubborn low block, plenty of physicality and Carlton Morris operating as a human anvil up front, while Bobby Clark looks to pull a few strings in midfield.

With Tomáš Souček still sidelined following his ankle misfortune at the World Cup, the midfield mantle once again falls to Arne Engels and N’Golo Kanté to keep things ticking over. If we can bypass Derby’s physical midfield and get Jarrod Bowen into space early, there should be more than enough quality in this West Ham side to take all three points.

Relatively comfortably.

Probably.

Then again, this is West Ham.

“Without too much drama” isn’t usually written into the script, is it?