West Ham United starting line-up v Brighton: David Moyes makes eight changes
West Ham have named a strong starting line-up for their third Premier League game of the season against Brighton at the London Stadium.
The Hammers lost their opening two Premier League games against Manchester City and Nottingham Forest, but they came picked up their first victory of the season after beating Viborg 3-1 on Thursday in the Europa Conference League.
David Moyes has made eight changes from that side that won at Viborg.
Here’s the team against Brighton: Fabianski, Coufal, Kehrer, Zouma, Cresswell, Rice (C), Soucek, Fornals, Bowen, Benrahma and Antonio.
The likes of Lukasz Fabianski, Kurt Zouma, Aaron Cresswell, Pablo Fornals, Declan Rice, Michail Antonio, Said Benrahma and debutant Thilo Kehrer has come into the side.
Senior attacking midfielder Manuel Lanzini has been dropped to the bench. Alphonse Areola, Ben Johnson, Harrison Ashby, Conor Coventry, Maxwel Cornet, Angelo Ogbonna, and Gianluca Scamacca have all been axed from the starting line-up.
Must win
Having lost their opening two games in the Premier League, the Hammers are under a bit of pressure.
It’s a long season, and those defeats hardly matter in the grand context of the season. But, it’s essential to get the confidence back into the side.
At home, West Ham must pick up a win against Graham Potter’s side, although it won’t be an easy game.
The Hammers found it easy against Viborg in the Europa Conference League, but they have to get a win in the league to break the shackles.
Gianluca Scamacca opened the scoring in the previous game, and he will be expected to deliver once more.
Moyes rested several key players for this game, but he has selected a very strong side here. The addition of Thilo Kehrer adds depth in defence while it was good to see Ogbonna returning to action after a long injury lay-off.