Michail Antonio to miss out as Mohammed Kudus earns start – West Ham United predicted XI v Newcastle
Michail Antonio could be set to miss out for the West Ham game against Newcastle United on Sunday (8 October).
The Jamaican international didn’t make the trip to Germany for the 2-1 win over Freiburg on Thursday (5 October) after picking up an injury.
That could mean Mohammed Kudus is handed his first Premier League start since signing for the Hammers from Ajax over the summer.
Speaking in his pre-match press conference on Friday (6 October), David Moyes revealed that Antonio is yet to train with the rest of the squad and that the 33-year-old has only undertaken some running with the medical team.
The forward’s absence against the Bundesliga side on Thursday meant that Jarrod Bowen led the line after the Irons boss made five changes to his starting lineup from the team that beat Sheffield United 2-0 on Saturday (30 September).
“I thought it was good to look at Jarrod [Bowen] in a centre-forward role in a competitive game, with a lot riding on it,” said Moyes (via BBC Sport).
“I thought the [first] goal was a really well-worked goal. A great cross and a terrific header by Lucas [Paqueta]. We took some good things out of the game but we need more variables in attack.”
With that in mind, the Scotsman is predicted to revert to a similar lineup to the one that beat the Blades, with four changes anticipated from the victory over Freiburg.
After his impressive start to the season, Alphonse Areola will return between the sticks to replace Lukasz Fabianski despite his solid display in Germany.
The back four will see two changes as captain Kurt Zouma and Emerson will join Vladimir Coufal and Nayef Aguerd in defence, with Konstantinos Mavropanos and Thilo Kehrer dropping back down to the bench.
Edson Alvarez will continue in his deep-lying role in midfield, with James Ward-Prowse joined by the returning Tomas Soucek at the expense of Pablo Fornals in a slightly more attacking position in the middle of the park.
Kudus will make his first start in the league on the right-hand side of the forward line, while Lucas Paqueta will start on the left but will probably find himself popping up all over the pitch in his free-roaming role.
That means Bowen is predicted to start up top again as Moyes may feel it’s too big of a risk to play Antonio from the start due to his injury record and importance to the team as the only recognised striker in any kind of form.
In other West Ham news, the club have no intention of handing one senior player a new contract.