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Just had a thought and idk how it'd work if it would even work decently: Arteta mentioned us having several very good holding midfielders. What if we played with 2 of them and one proper 8 for some harder matches? The idea would be that either one at any time could fill the 8 role, while the regular 8 switches sides to give space? So like, if we had a Rice-Ødegaard-Partey midfield, you could have both Rice and Partey help defend when needed against like, say, Kevin de Bruyne, but you could also have Rice as an 8 between Martinelli and Jesus with Ødegaard next to Saka, with Partey sitting as the lone 6, or Partey as an 8 between Saka and Jesus with Ødegaard on the left next to Martinelli while Rice holds down the pivot. Not sure how well it'd work but it could provide some more unpredictability and versatility while essentially maintaining a similar style? Not most of the time, cuz this would probably attack less, but in big matches it could work
Obviously, neither Rice nor Partey are as good at offence as Havertz or ESR, but they've both got significant experience playing in 8-ish roles (Partey more so).
@Astrealix Rice has been forced by Moyes's own cautious tactics and West Ham's dire form to play very defensively. There's talk that Arteta sees him playing much more on the front foot.