View: West Ham predicted XI v Burnley
West Ham are on a rotten mini-run of results and David Moyes could look to make sweeping changes against Burnley on Monday night.
A 1-0 defeat to Chelsea at the London Stadium last Saturday ensured successive defeats for the Irons after a 3-2 loss at Newcastle United in the previous week, while it’s just three wins from the last seven games.
They now face a tough trip to a side who are fresh off of a crushing 4-0 victory over Wolves that looks to have secured their Premier League status for another year.
Moyes will surely be considering switching up his side to inject some fresh energy into the team, and he should have plenty of players to choose from.
He could have a full complement to choose from in front of Lukasz Fabianski in goal with a number of defensive boosts this week.
Fabian Balbuena was dismissed against Chelsea but his one-match ban has been rescinded after review, while Craig Dawson returns to the squad after his own suspension.
Left-sided duo Arthur Masuaku and Aaron Cresswell could also return after both missed the last two games with injuries. [26/04/21, The West Ham Way podcast, via Hammers News].
That’s sure to hand Moyes a selection headache with both favourites of the Scot in his five-man defence formation, but we think a tactical reshuffle ensures just one of them starts.
We need to claim all three points on Monday, and up against a well-organised outfit who are known to dig in, as many creative players as possible should be shoe-horned into the side.
Therefore we are predicting a 4-2-3-1 formation with Cresswell slotting in at left-back for his set-piece deliveries.
Craig Dawson is also set to return to the starting XI to combat the aerial prowess of Sean Dyche’s side, with Angelo Ogbonna and Vladimir Coufal retaining their places.
That means Balbuena, Ben Johnson and the man who Jose Mourinho called a ‘monster’ [Evening Standard] in 2018, Diop, miss out.
It should be ‘as you were’ in the middle of midfield with Declan Rice still out injured, so Tomas Soucek and Mark Noble will partner each other once more.
There are some big calls to make further forward, though,
Despite newspaper reports to the contrary Jesse Lingard is fit and set to start on Monday, according to Irons insider EXWHUemployee on his personal Twitter profile, while Jarrod Bowen is surely set to join him in attack again with Michail Antonio still out.
That leaves two places, and there are a few ways Moyes could go with this.
While he hasn’t been at his best in recent week Pablo Fornals’ work rate should see him start versus Burnley, and we think he could be primed for a slightly unfamiliar role on the right-hand side to combat the lung-bursting runs of Clarets winger Dwight McNeil.
The Spaniard has only started two Premier League games there this season, but he did pick up a goal and accrued a 7.24 WhoScored rating in that position across those outings.
That opens up a spot on the left-wing and while the cynic in us battles with the idea of Masuaku playing there, or perhaps Manuel Lanzini slotting into the midfield, we’re backing Said Benrahma to get the nod.
It’s a big call given he hasn’t started a game since March 21 (3-3 draw with Arsenal) but his creativity and invention could be huge here to unlock a resolute Burnley side.
Here’s how we expect West Ham to line up against Burnley on Monday…
In other West Ham news, ‘Relegated’ – Trevor Sinclair calls for major change after Irons incident.
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