A Premier League side with a new manager and a new style – a back three, attacking wing-backs and a pair of No 10s behind the front man.

No, not that one. While Ruben Amorim has spent his opening games trying to mould his players into his philosophy at Man Utd, Graham Potter is doing the opposite in east London.

Finally, Potter is providing what West Ham fans were promised when Julen Lopetegui took over from David Moyes in the summer.

Let’s not dwell too long on his ill-fated 22-game reign, but it took weeks for Potter’s predecessor to show more than glacial signs of progression towards a new approach. In four games, the new man has already begun to rip up the script and start again.

As you would expect from a Potter team, passes are up. Average possession has risen almost 10 per cent. The number of sequences of 10 or more passes has rocketed by almost half.

Monday 3rd February 6:30pm


Kick off 8:00pm

It is not so much about a set style though, as much as the adaptability within that Potter framework. The tactical nuances which fans felt Moyes lacked, and which Lopetegui, for one reason or another, never got to show. No surprise when his Brighton side lined up in 13 different starting formations across 38 games in his final full season at the club.

It took just nine minutes of his opening West Ham game for Lucas Paqueta, enduring a wretched season to that point, to ghost into the box and fire them ahead at Aston Villa. Even after a single training session as head coach, he had not been scared to make significant tweaks.

Potter played a notional back four in that first game, handing Oliver Scarles a full debut at left-back. A bold move in itself. Bolder was how Cryscensio Summerville and Scarles played effectively as wing-backs, stretching Villa in wide areas as Aaron Wan-Bissaka tucked in as a third centre-back in possession.

A half-time reshuffle after Summerville’s injury ultimately dampened West Ham’s fire to a point they never recovered but it provided enough encouragement that Potter could – and would – make a fast impact.

Of course, it hasn’t been quite that plain sailing. West Ham have won only one of three in the Premier League since, but the direction of travel is clear, and Potter has mixed things up to good effect.

The Hammers scored three goals from four shots – but two ‘big chances’ in their next game, a 3-2 win over Fulham.

They struggled against Crystal Palace, not helped by a second-half red card for Konstantinos Mavropanos, but recovered with their best performance yet in a second trip to Villa Park last weekend, where after a slow start they were frustrated to leave with only a point.

Paqueta has continued after that bright start and looks back to the player he was last season. With Nicklas Fullkrug injured, Potter has deployed him as a False 9 and is getting him back to the kind of dangerous areas he thrives in, over the confused and unsettled role he was handed by Lopetegui.

From widely reported muddled training sessions and team-sheets revealed to players only hours ahead of kick-off, Potter’s players already look at home within his methods.

Just as he did so regularly at Brighton, Potter can make turn square pegs in round holes – a back three of Vladimir Coufal, Max Kilman and Aaron Cresswell, for example – into a well-oiled machine.

They are not the most convincing trio on paper, but the wide centre-backs’ overarching focus was to support Emerson and Wan-Bissaka out wide, even if it meant leaving a one-vs-one up against Ollie Watkins or latterly Jhon Duran.

That helped play a part in the biggest showcase of Potter’s adaptability so far. Paqueta enjoyed more opposition-box touches than in any game all season, but it was the manager’s bravery to identify Aaron Wan-Bissaka as his most potent creative threat that made the difference.

Exactly 50 per cent of West Ham’s attacks came down their right flank as Potter made the wing-back West Ham’s primary out ball against Villa’s compact structure, with Coufal in support to occupy Jacob Ramsey and create a regular overload.

Six crosses – again, a season high – and two chances followed from the wing-back as well as a supporting role in the Hammers’ goal which teed up Emerson, who was similarly stretching the hosts on the far side, to nod in a deserved second-half equaliser.

What will follow next as Potter returns to his old club Chelsea on Monday Night Football? Unlike Moyes, or even Lopetegui, his fluid tactical style is hard to pinpoint ahead of time or even across 90 minutes. That in itself is the whole idea.

Because what has Potter changed at the London Stadium? In the space of less than a month, a little bit of everything. Not because he is wedded to implementing a set style, but precisely because he isn’t.

Watch Chelsea vs West Ham live on Sky Sports Premier League from 6.30pm on Monday, kick-off 8pm.