It is now 10 years since we last won the League Cup in 2008. Remember, we have never went more than 10 years without winning a trophy since the 1921-1951 period. We badly need to win a trophy this season to continue that proud record. Levy being the chairman for the last 17 years will be answerable if we fail to keep the record of winning at least 1 trophy every 10 years. League Cup still remain our best chance of winning a trophy even if we have concentrated more on winning the league title for the last 3 seasons. West Ham are sure to make it tough for us again. We lost 1-2 to West Ham in League Cup Round 5 in 2014. We need to take them seriously this time to get revenge for that defeat.
We struggled against Barnsley in Round 3 after resting many of our regulars. We should not take undue risk against our London rivals West Ham. Even resting Kane is risky as we don't have any other regular goal scorers. But can understand if Kane is rested as we cannot rely on him all the time. It is time Llorente step up and show us why we bought him. He still has not come close to scoring in any of the match he has played. Let's hope Llorente will start scoring in this match. Others like Son and Alli should play and help us get a goal or two as well. Afterall, Alli saved us the embarassment against Barnsley. Hope he will inspire us again in this match.
Our midfield have done well in recent matches, even without Dembele and Wanyama. Still not fully convinced of Winks but he seems to be improving very fast. Our new goal machine Sissoko has been a revelation this season, stunning the football world with his fine performances. Hope he can score a goal to continue his progress. A bit annoyed that Lamela is still not fully fit to play in this match. His return from injury has been postponed so many times that find it hard to accept.
I think it is better if we play our best defenders in this match. Vorm can start in goal but would prefer if Vertonghen, Alderweireld and Sanchez start in defence. Foyth may have played well against Barnsley but London derbies like West Ham needs experience more than youth. Can see West Ham treating this like a Cup final and putting pressure on our defence. Not sure youngsters like Foyth and Walker-Peters can handle the pressure in matches like these.
Performance is not really important in Cup matches as long as we win. Hope we will turn up with the right team and mentality to beat West Ham and progress to the next round of the League Cup.
