Axel Disasi or Jean-Clair Todibo? Nuno Espirito Santo has a defensive dilemma awaiting him as West Ham United prepare to welcome another resurgent Premier League outfit in AFC Bournemouth to the London Stadium this weekend.

Does he stick with the backline which came within a 96th minute Benjamin Sesko equaliser of successive top-flight clean sheets? Or, now that Jean-Clair Todibo has served his three game suspension following that Stamford Bridge ruckus, can he expect to make an immediate return to the starting XI?

A difficult one.

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Axel Disasi is a West Ham fan favourite already, and for good reason. Todibo’s fellow France international has been pretty faultless since he arrived from Chelsea. You would never have guessed he went nearly a whole year without playing a game of Premier League football.

And while Konstantinos Mavropanos has his critics, the narrative surrounding the Greek colossus is starting to change for the better. Nuno Espirito Santo even picked Mavropanos to captain West Ham United for the first time in the FA Cup victory over Burton Albion on Saturday.

So, the question facing Nuno is this; does he rip up a working formula and a promising partnership in order to restore Todibo to the team sheet?

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West Ham United fans want to see Axel Disasi start over Jean-Clair Todibo v Bournemouth

Well, we say it’s a dilemma. When Hammers News asked our TalkingPoint users who you would prefer to see start against Bournemouth, at the time of writing, 87 per cent of you picked Disasi over Todibo.

It remains to be seen if Nuno’s response is quite so emphatic.

Of course, this is presuming that it is Mavropanos whose place in the starting XI is the safest right now. There is a chance that Nuno opts to drop him, and put Todibo and Disasi together as part of a new-look, never-before-seen backline.

Disasi and Todibo have been on France duty together in the past, although they are yet to play alongside each other in a competitive setting. With the obvious exception of Crysencio Summerville, Todibo has arguably been West Ham’s most-improved player over the last couple of months.

On the other hand, what he brings in terms of line-breaking passing, he lacks in terms of height and physicality. Todibo’s aerial duel percentage is one of the worst among all the centre-halves in the Premier League. Mavropanos and Disasi, in contrast, are physical demons capable of dominating even the tallest strikers in the air.

No team in the league has conceded more headed goals this season, while only Liverpool and Bournemouth have been breached more often from set-pieces. Nuno is determined to fix this Achilles heel at long last. And a Disasi / Mavropanos partnership may be his best chance of doing just that.

“I think he did really well, particularly for someone who had been with us for less than a week,” Nuno said after Disasi marked his West Ham debut with a win at Burnley a fortnight ago.

“He was very aware of the needs of the team, and I think he integrated really well in terms of how he played, and the bonds he has on the pitch.

“The players have to have knowledge, and realise the movements, because one movement dictates the other. I think he did really well, and I hope he continues.”

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Disasi loves the ‘family’ feel of West Ham as he hails his new teammates

After months spent wasting away in the Chelsea bomb squad, Disasi is delighted to be part of the West Ham ‘family’; reunited with a couple of familiar faces.

“I know ‘JC’ and Soungoutou [Magassa] as well,” Disasi said on the Ironcast podcast this week. “I saw him start in Monaco when he came through the academy, so I’m happy to see him here. When you come to a new team, it’s obviously good to have faces you know and you can speak with. It made the integration much easier for me.

“But the other guys have been top with me as well. They are very friendly, so my integration has been very good.

“When I came here, I realised that everyone has that same goal. We are all in the same boat. We have to go to get our objective because obviously the players know we are not in the place we should be.

“But when you look at the squad, you can see the quality,” adds the 2022 World Cup runner-up. “We have players like Malick [Diouf], who just won the AFCON. You can tell the team has the quality to get through [this]. We just have to stick together the way we are now, and I’m sure we will be OK.”

“[Summerville] is very sharp and very quick. He’s been doing very well over the last few games. He is very helpful for us, most definitely.

“I would say maybe Mateus Fernandes [has surprised me the most]. Even last year when he was playing at Southampton, I remember [thinking], ‘this player is good.’ Then, when I played against Burnley, we were on the same team, I said, ‘no, he’s good, honestly.’

“He can run, he can attack, and he can defend. He has good passing quality… no, he’s good.”