WHZ View: Predicted West Ham XI v Everton
West Ham host Everton at the London Stadium on Sunday evening hoping to make it successive victories after their 2-1 win at Burnley on Monday.
That Turf Moor success broke a two-game run of defeats against Newcastle United and Chelsea, and reignited our Champions League dreams.
We’re still three points behind Chelsea as they face Manchester City on Saturday, but if the runaway Premier League leaders beat the Blues then we would be right back in the hunt again.
Leicester City’s shock 4-2 defeat to Newcastle on Friday night threw another spanner in the works, and a win against Everton would pull us to within two points of Brendan Rodgers’ side.
There could be a big boost ahead of Sunday’s clash, with David Moyes delivering some positive news on Declan Rice, who has missed our last five fixtures with a knee injury.
“We’re obviously getting closer to getting Declan back, because we’re another week down the line and we’re hoping that we can have him available,” Moyes told the West Ham website.
“He’s back on the grass and closing in on it. Undoubtedly he’s a big miss for us and we’ll try to get him back as quickly as we can.”
Moyes was reticent to commit to whether Rice would return this week, and we think he may take a place on the bench even if he is considered fit enough.
His starting XI return may have to wait a little longer, but we think Angelo Ogbonna is set to come back in after missing the win at Burnley.
He posted on his official Twitter profile and said he was “back on the grass”, while ExWHUemployee tweeted that he “should be back but a late test will determine it”.
Ogbonna has been of our star performers this season, with former Irons favourite James Collins calling him “phenomenal” in November. [West Ham club website]
Issa Diop looked shaky up against Chris Wood last Monday so the Italian should replace him in the centre of defence to partner Craig Dawson, with Aaron Cresswell and Vladimir Coufal flanking them in front of goalkeeper Lukasz Fabianski.
The decision not to start Rice should be made easier by the performance of Manuel Lanzini in a deeper position against Sean Dyche’s side, so he could begin next to Tomas Soucek in the middle of midfield again.
The positions of Jesse Lingard and Michail Antonio look secure, but Said Benrahma and Pablo Fornals could make way for Jarrod Bowen after he was rested from the start in our previous game.
Against a slow Everton side we could do with the sheer pace and direct running ability of Bowen, and we think he starts on the opposite side to Benrahma who impressed in a rare start on Monday, registering an assist for Antonio’s winning goal.
That might be harsh on Fornals who didn’t do too much wrong either, but he will play his part from the bench.
Here is how we expect the Irons to line up against Everton…
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