Tomas Soucek axed, 5 changes made – Confirmed West Ham United XI v Newcastle United
David Moyes has made five changes to his West Ham starting lineup for the Premier League clash with Newcastle on Saturday afternoon.
Vladimir Coufal, Declan Rice, Lucas Paqueta, Said Benrahma and Lukasz Fabianski all come back into the side for Moyes, with Ben Johnson, Flynn Downes, Tomas Soucek, Pablo Fornals and Alphonse Areola all dropping out.
It’s another game with a back five for Moyes after two consecutive wins, and Michail Antonio keeps his place in the side up front after some good performances.
Danny Ings misses out but does return to the substitutes bench, while youngsters Hegyi and Anang are also named on the bench.
Confirmed XI: Fabianski; Coufal, Kehrer, Ogbonna, Aguerd, Emerson; Rice (C) Paqueta; Bowen, Benrahma, Antonio.
Momentum
Regardless of the team that is named by Moyes, this team has to find a way to keep the momentum going.
We’re currently on a run of two wins in a row for the first time since October, and while Newcastle are absolutely flying at the moment we know we’re capable of competing with them if we’re at our best.
We have got plenty of strength in depth in our squad to compete and the return of Ings to the squad is a great thing too for our striker options.
Newcastle will be pushing hard to start fast and put us under pressure, but defensively we have looked much better in recent weeks and now this will be the test to see if we’ve really turned the corner.
There is enough quality here to frustrate them and get a point, but potentially even get the victory and really move away from this relegation battle we’ve found ourselves in.