West Ham United return to action in the Premier League this afternoon as they travel away from the London Stadium to take on Liverpool at Anfield.
The Hammers are heading into the match off the back of a 3-1 win over Serbian side TSC Backa Topola a home in the Europa League on Thursday night.
Petar Stanic handed the away side a shock lead shortly after half-time but David Moyes' side rallied to come back and secure all three points in their first group stage match of the campaign.
Said Benrahma crossed for Nemanja Petrovic to turn the ball into his own net before two exquisite corners from James Ward-Prowse produced two assists for Mohammed Kudus and Tomas Soucek, whose goals sealed the 3-1 win.
What's the latest West Ham team news?
The Hammers head coach has revealed that England international Jarrod Bowen is a doubt for this match after picking up a virus, which is why he was not in the squad for the victory on Thursday.
Left-back Aaron Cresswell, who was substituted at half-time against Topola, is also a concern as Moyes has confirmed that the defender felt his hamstring and his situation is also one to watch.
However, there are no other fresh injury concerns and Kudus, who arrived from Dutch giants Ajax during the summer transfer window, could make his first Premier League start if Bowen misses out.
One change to the XI that Moyes should make, though, is bringing central defender Nayef Aguerd back into the team to replace Italian veteran Angelo Ogbonna, who had a nightmare against Topola.
How did Ogbonna perform against Topola?
The former Juventus stopper recorded a dismal Sofascore rating of 6.3 as he was almost solely at fault for the goal that West Ham conceded in the 47th minute.
Ward-Prowse played a slightly underhit pass back to the defender but he had plenty of time to deal with the ball and, instead, was outmuscled by Petrovic, who was then free to run clear on goal before slotting the ball past Lukasz Fabianski with ease.
Ogbonna had several opportunities to clear his lines, whether that was by hitting it forward when the ball first came his way or by passing it back to his goalkeeper, and his dallying ended up costing him and the club at the time.
This critical mistake is not the only reason why Aguerd should be in the side ahead of him, though, as his performances throughout the 2022/23 campaign were less impressive than the Morocco internationals's.
How many appearances did Ogbonna make last season?
The 35-year-old giant played 16 times in the Premier League last season and averaged a Sofascore rating of 6.72, which was the 14th-highest rating within the squad and this suggests that he was a long way away from being one of the team's best performers.
He made 1.8 tackles and interceptions per game and won 67% of his individual duels throughout the campaign, as per Sofascore, and ranked 15th in the team for tackles per match (0.7).
These statistics show that the Italian defender was not an outstanding player for the Hammers last season as he did not make a great impact on the pitch with his defensive interventions or average performance level.
The ex-Torino star also has very little to offer in possession for West Ham. Over the last 365 days, Ogbonna ranks in the bottom 1% of his positional peers across the Men's Big Five League and European competitions for progressive passes (0.83) and progressive carries (0.00) per 90 respectively.
This shows that the veteran dud is one of the worst players in his position in Europe when it comes to playing the ball out from the back to start attacks. He does not progress his team up the pitch with clever passes or driving runs to find his teammates in better positions.
Aguerd, on the other hand, is better than Ogbonna at both sides of the game, as evidenced by his performances for the club since his move to the London Stadium last year.
How many appearances did Aguerd make last season?
The Morocco international played 18 Premier League matches, which included 17 starts, and averaged an impressive Sofascore rating of 6.92.
Only Lucas Paqueta (6.95) and Declan Rice (7.19) averaged higher Sofascore ratings than the 27-year-old titan and this suggests that he was one of Moyes' top performers at the back.
The left-footed ace delivered a significantly higher average performance level in comparison to Ogbonna and made more defensive interventions with 2.5 tackles and interceptions per clash for the team.
Aguerd, who was hailed as "exceptional" by Match of the Day presenter Gary Lineker, has also enjoyed a strong start to the current campaign.
He has averaged a Sofascore rating of 7.08 across four league starts and made 3.3 tackles and interceptions per match to go along with a goal against Chelsea, although the central defender was also shown a red card for two bookable offences in that game.
The former Rennes star also offers more than Ogbonna in possession of the ball. Over the last 365 days, Aguerd has averaged more progressive passes (1.58) and progressive carries (0.14) per 90 than the 35-year-old dud.
This shows that he can provide more quality in possession to progress the team up the pitch in matches, which can, therefore, give the attackers a greater chance of making an impact as they can receive the ball in better positions than they would from Ogbonna's passing out from the back.
Therefore, Moyes must ruthlessly ditch the £70k-per-week Italian from the starting line-up and start Aguerd against Liverpool, who have scored three goals in four of their last five matches in all competitions and in each of their last three games.
West Ham will need to be at the top of their game to keep out the likes of Mo Salah, Darwin Nunez, and Luis Diaz, and the statistics suggest that the Moroccan colossus has a far better chance of keeping them out than Ogbonna.
This is why the Scottish head coach should select the former Ligue 1 ace from the start and resign the veteran defender to the bench, with Kurt Zouma or Konstantinos Mavropanos alongside Aguerd.