West Ham United manager Nuno Espirito Santo has a tricky decision to make at left-back vs Fulham this weekend and beyond.

With Wan-Bissaka and Diouf away at AFCON, the Hammers are without two options at left back, and with our third senior option for the position Kyle Walker-Peters having to play on the right, we have a real dilemma at left-back.

Nuno opted to play Ollie Scarles out on the left side against Manchester City and unsurprisingly he struggled with the amount of talent City had up against him. Rayan Cherki completely got the better of the 20-year-old, even embarrassing him at times, and it didn’t get much better when he was up against Savinho either.

Despite a poor performance, where he was in fact substituted for Ezra Mayers after just over an hour. I don’t think we should drop Ollie from the start yet. It was his first start in 9 matches after being out from October with a broken collarbone, he played against one of, if not probably the best team in the Premier League at the moment.

To judge him on that game would be really harsh, and to drop him would be even harsher. I think a game against Fulham with an hour of football under his belt will be a lot more comfortable for him. We will have more of the ball, attack more and have a lot more chance of winning, this will really help him settle back into the starting XI.

If he does struggle again, I think Ezra Mayers will be a decent option. As a central defender by trade, he should and has been pretty decent defensively when he’s come off the bench so far. He won’t contribute as much to the attack as Scarles can, but if Scarles really struggles to defend it could be a good idea to bring in Mayers from the start in future games.