West Ham playing XIs for Leyton & Northampton: First pre-season start for Ekwah
Having impressed off the bench against Dundee, Pierre Ekwah Elimby will start for West Ham against Leyton Orient.
The Hammers are scheduled to play two games this evening and both will kick off at 7pm.
One’s against Leyton Orient while the other one is against Northampton Town. The former features a majority of the senior ones while the latter has Craig Dawson captaining a number of the youth and fringe players.
Spoilt for choice
Pre-season games typically see players feature for one half or at the most 60 minutes before they’re subbed off to give others a chance.
However, having two games on simultaneously, more players are given a chance to prove themselves ahead of a season that’s going to stretch our squad depth to the very limit.
For the game against Orient, Jamal Baptiste starts at centre-back after impressing against Dundee by scoring a goal. He will be partnered by Angelo Ogbonna who’s had the summer off after not being picked for Italy’s Euro 2020 squad.
New signing Ekwah Elimby will partner Mark Noble ahead of what looks like a three-man defence.
Michail Antonio will lead the line and be flanked by youngsters Armstrong Oko-Flex and Xande Silva.
In the other contest, 22-year-old Nathan Trott will be looking to have another good game in goal.
Dawson will be partnered with Frederik Alves who also started our last game against Dundee.
In midfield, 19-year-old Keenan Appiah-Forson would be one to watch out for – having being highly rated in the past by the academy coaches.
Manuel Lanzini could be playing for his West Ham future as he appears to be starting out wide for the Hammers against Northampton.
In other West Ham news, ‘Irrelevant’, ‘Deadwood’, ‘Sell him’ – West Ham Super Fans react to future of Euro 2020 ace
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