West Ham return to domestic action on Sunday as they travel to Old Trafford to take on an in-form Manchester United side.
David Moyes’ side assured themselves of top spot in their Europa Conference League group on Thursday evening against Silkeborg and the Scottish manager will likely ring the changes as his side looks to continue their recent upturn in Premier League form.
However, they face a United side that are unbeaten in their last seven games in all competitions, so the Hammers will have to be at their best if they want to pick up a rare away win against one of the Premier League’s ‘top six’.
Here is how Football FanCast expects Moyes to line his side up at Old Trafford, with eight changes from the team that started at the London Stadium in midweek.
West Ham predicted XI vs Manchester United: Fabianski, Johnson, Kehrer, Zouma, Ogbonna, Cresswell, Rice, Soucek, Benrahma, Bowen, Scamacca (5-2-1-2).
Despite an impressive performance in the win over Silkeborg, it seems likely that Alphonse Areola will make way for Lukasz Fabianski in between the sticks with the Pole the club’s regular league goalkeeper.
After some recent success with a back five, Moyes may well continue with that in the hope that it can give the Hammers some defensive security at Old Trafford, so Ben Johnson and Aaron Cresswell start as wing-backs, with Emerson and Vladimir Coufal dropping to the bench.
The three centre-backs could be Thilo Kehrer, Kurt Zouma and Angelo Ogbonna, with Nayef Aguerd perhaps not ready for his Premier League debut after only making his first competitive start for the club on Thursday.
In midfield, Declan Rice and Tomas Soucek seem almost certain to return, with Conor Coventry and Manuel Lanzini dropping back to the bench after rare starts against Silkeborg.
Pablo Fornals, despite being a “very important” player for Moyes, also drops out, with Jarrod Bowen returning from injury to take his place in attack alongside Said Benrahama, who keeps his place after scoring against Bournemouth on Monday evening.
The final change sees Gianluca Scamacca return in place of Michail Antonio, whose return of two goals so far this season has seen him make way for the Italian as the starting striker at the club.
