West Ham: David Moyes must axe Issa Diop against Watford | OneFootball

David Moyes’ West Ham United side return to Premier League action this evening, with Watford making the short trip to the London Stadium for a 19:45 kick-off.

However, despite the Hammers currently sitting pretty in fifth place in the top-flight standings, while the visitors occupy a rather less impressive 18th place in the league table, the Irons’ narrow 2-1 (AET) victory over non-league Kidderminster Harriers on Saturday afternoon would not appear to suggest that the 58-year-old’s side are in the best of form at present.

Indeed, a number of the starting XI at Aggborough Stadium had something of a fixture to forget, none more so than centre-back Issa Diop – who once again failed to impress in the absence of Angelo Ogbonna in the heart of the West Ham defence.

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Moyes must axe Diop

Over his 45 minutes on the pitch last weekend, the former France U21 international did very little to convince Moyes that he should retain his starting spot for the Watford game this evening, with the 25-year-old failing to make a single interception or tackle, losing all three of his ground duels, committing three fouls and losing possession of the ball on eight separate occasions.

These returns saw the £10.8m-rated centre-back earn an extremely disappointing SofaScore match rating of just 6.4, something which makes it easy to see why the West Ham boss decided to hook the defender at half-time.

Indeed, the Evening Standard journalist, Jack Rosser, tweeted of the £61k-per-week man’s display against Kidderminster: “To be generous, Diop has made a shocking start. Gave away the free-kick, collided with Areola for the goal and now gives another free-kick away on the edge of the box.”

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How many Premier League goals did West Ham United score in the 2020/21 Premier League season?

57 62 67 72

Meanwhile, Toby Cudworth, the head of content for 90min, tweeted of the Frenchman’s performance last weekend: “Really is quite frightening for West Ham how bad Issa Diop can be.”

As such, it is clear for all to see that a repeat of his display against a non-league outfit in this evening’s Premier League clash could very well bring with it disastrous consequences for West Ham, something that leads us to believe Moyes simply must drop the centre-back for his starting XI against the Hornets.