Friday 17 March 2017 23:57, UK
West Ham boss Slaven Bilic is toying with a novel idea for the visit of Leicester - playing a right-back at right-back.
The Hammers' shortage in the position been a source of frustration for Bilic throughout the current campaign, with the manager utilising winger Michail Antonio or midfielders Havard Nordtveit and - most recently - Cheikhou Kouyate, as makeshift full-backs.
But an injury to captain Mark Noble means Kouyate will be needed in midfield and could pave the way for Sam Byram to make a rare start.
"He is definitely one of the options," said Bilic.
"Sam did play this season, and got injured. It was a pretty bad injury, then he came back and played a few games, then Kouyate played in that position.
"Now he's back to fitness, he came on last week and made a goal, so yeah, maybe. Yes, it would be nice to have a right-back at right-back. It would be very nice."
Byram has yet to convince Bilic since his move from Leeds in January last year, and that substitute appearance against Bournemouth last Saturday summed up his impact in east London so far.
The 23-year-old overlapped superbly to set up Andre Ayew for West Ham's equaliser, only to get caught upfield when Bournemouth broke away to score a last-minute winner.
"We spoke about that and I told him that mentality is good, to be positive, to be optimistic," added Bilic.
"But there are situations towards the end of a game when some of your moves depend on the result.
"I don't want to take that mentality away from him but then again - and the whole game is about taking a gamble - but in some situations you don't take that gamble."
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