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The left-back position is our most heavily affected area in the team with regards to injuries.

Aaron Cresswell is on the comeback trail but still a few weeks away. His progression has come at a time where his back-up, Arthur Masuaku is the recent casualty. I’m still unsure on Arthur, I think he has a bit of Herita Illunga about him.

The game against Southampton at the weekend could see Sam Byram or Alvaro Arbeloa playing either side of the full-back position but, can the club afford to play another player out of position? This weekend we’ll have to make do, but next week the club should recall players who are out on loan.

Stephen Hendrie, who showed so much promise and was a catalyst in the Youth Premier League Cup winning campaign, is currently being left out of a mediocre Blackburn Rovers side in The Championship.

If not Hendrie, then Lewis Page should be recalled from his spell from Coventry City and fill the void.

West Ham have a fantastic academy as we all know, and seeing a youth player start a game would give that player vital experience in his development but he will also gain more support from the fans. Slaven might just have to turn to The Academy of Football, and about time too! Let’s see Bilic’s Babes play.

If we don’t test the water, how are we as a club and as fans supposed to know whether they will be any good? Look at the situation with Marcus Rashford at Manchester United earlier this year. What a few months he has had!

He was forced into the first team through a long list of injuries, he made an impression, go in to some great form along by scoring goals and eventually got a senior call up to the England side for Euro 2016.

In addition, how canny is it that the latest FIFA 17 game features a new playing mode called ‘The Journey’, where you take control of youngster Alex Hunter to see whether he can make it as a professional footballer in the biggest league in the world.

What do you think? Should the club start using youth players in their educated position over a senior player playing out of position.

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