A West Ham outcast may be looking to turn over a new leaf after unveiling a brand new look — just as Nuno Espirito Santo faces three huge decisions for the Brentford clash.
The Hammers welcome Brentford to the London Stadium on Monday night for a literal early-season six-pointer.
It says everything about just how bad West Ham’s start to the season has been under Graham Potter that even a win over Brentford may not lift them out of the bottom three of the Premier League.
West Ham’s goal difference is already so bad that they would need to win 4-0 to climb above their opponents and Burnley.
Nuno Espirito Santo’s first two games in charge – a 1-1 draw at Everton which they could and perhaps should have won and a resilient but toothless 2-0 defeat at Arsenal – have been encouraging.
Nuno faces three major West Ham calls for Brentford
But the run of games coming up will go a long way to deciding whether the Hammers can start to pull clear of danger.
After Brentford, West Ham go to Leeds on Friday night before back-to-back home games against Newcastle and Burnley heading into the November international break.
Nuno will want to take at least seven or eight points from that run of fixtures, so beating Brentford is crucial.
The manager has a number of big decisions to make about his line-up.
Nuno has impressed so far with his passion, ruthlessness, team selection, tactics and honesty.
James Ward-Prowse, Callum Wilson and Jean-Clair Todibo have seen Nuno’s ruthlessness first hand.
Ward-Prowse was one of the first names on the teamsheet under Potter, much to the frustration of fans.
But he was immediately bombed out of the squad altogether when Nuno arrived.
It came after Nuno cut Ward-Prowse’s loan short by six months when he went to Forest last season.
West Ham were obligated to pay £32m to make French defender Todibo’s loan move permanent in the summer despite a hugely underwhelming debut season.
Todibo has barely featured since, losing his place under Potter following a bust-up over his attitude and time-keeping.
He was sick for Nuno’s first squad selection at Everton.
Soucek back and big decision to make on West Ham’s striker
But when the former Nice man was available again for Arsenal, Nuno left him out of the squad like Ward-Prowse.
Many believe that was a signal that Todibo will be one of the first out of the West Ham exit in January.
Although the team’s win stats have been woeful over the last 18 months, there is clear evidence West Ham are generally better with Todibo in the side.
Now the West Ham outcast is sporting a brand new look as Nuno faces three major calls.
The first big call Nuno has to make is up front.
Hammers News exclusively revealed the results of West Ham’s scan on Niclas Fullkrug’s latest injury over the weekend.
The German certainly won’t be available for Brentford, so Nuno must decide who plays up top.
Options are seriously limited.
Wilson was overlooked in favour of youngster Callum Marshall as a sub at Arsenal.
Whether the Northern Ireland international will be handed a start against Brentford remains to be seen.
Other options include Jarrod Bowen, Lucas Paqueta and possibly Crysencio Summerville.
The next big call is whether Tomas Soucek comes straight back into the team and if his face fits with Nuno.
The manager has bemoaned West Ham’s lack of aggression and physicality in winning first contacts.
So that sounds like Soucek will be right up his street. How he uses the Czech fan favourite will be even more fascinating.
Because if Nuno gets Soucek back to his box-crashing attacking midfield best then it could help transform West Ham’s season.
The third big call is on Todibo.
Fresh hair, fresh start as outcast Todibo sports new look?
Konstantinos Mavropanos endured a miserable international break as Greece lost 3-1 to Scotland and by the same score to Denmark.
Mavropanos was criticised by Nuno for his defending on Everton’s goal in the 1-1 draw.
The big Greek has actually been one of West Ham’s better players of late but has been error-prone from the moment he arrived in east London.
Now all eyes are on whether Todibo comes back into the squad after two weeks working closely with the new boss.
If he doesn’t then the writing will clearly be on the wall for his Hammers future.
Todibo appears to be ready to turn over a new leaf if his new haircut is anything to go by.
Nuno has talked about it being a clean slate for the entire West Ham squad.
Well Todibo certainly has a clean new trim.
The former Barca flop has shaved off his long dyed blonde curls with a grade one all over.
Todibo is sporting his new haircut in a West Ham training gallery ahead of the Brentford game in which he is very much involved with the main group.
New hairstyle, new start for Todibo? Or will he be cut from the squad again?
West Ham fans will find out tonight.
