WHZ View: More magic from Lingard – Predicted Hammers XI v Man City
West Ham travel to the Etihad on Saturday to face the Premier League’s best side by far, Manchester City.
The Hammers are having an excellent season. David Moyes’ men are currently fourth in the table and are looking to go five undefeated in the league. They made a big statement in defeating Tottenham 2-1 on Sunday.
Our hosts are having a good season, too. City are ten points clear of Manchester United and Leicester. They’ve won 19 games in the bounce in all competitions, most recently a 2-0 victory over Borussia Monchengladbach, last night.
Moyes will still be without star centre back Angelo Ogbonna. Andriy Yarmolenko and Arthur Masuaku are also sidelined. Pep Guardiola has no fresh injury concerns but will continue to be without Nathan Ake. Sergio Aguero featured for the last ten minutes in their victory last night as he continues to make a comeback.
With that in mind, West Ham Zone predicts Moyes to name the following XI to face Manchester City.
In goal will be our number one, Lukasz Fabianski. He had another excellent game against Spurs, saving well from Harry Kane and leading from the back. We’ll need him on absolute top form to face City.
We assume Moyes will go with a back four as he has in recent weeks. Vladimir Coufal will start at right-back. He was excellent in the reverse fixture and assisted Antonio’s opener.
Issa Diop and Craig Dawson should play together in the middle of defence. These two were solid in our last game, in what was only their third game together.
Aaron Cresswell has more assists than any defender in the top-flight, with eight. We predict him to play left-back and complete the back four.
Captain Declan Rice and top goalscorer Tomas Soucek will anchor the midfield. The pair were highly praised for their performance last weekend. They’ve formed one of the best partnerships in the league.
Jarrod Bowen, Jesse Lingard and Pablo Fornals should complete the attacking midfielders. Lingard scored expertly last time out and he has three in his first four in claret and blue. We’re predicting more magic from him against Man City.
Michail Antonio should lead the line. He scored in the reverse fixture and is just six league goals away from becoming our all-time Premier League top scorer.
We’re very hopeful that this XI can bring something back from The Etihad, but it’ll be no easy feat. A win would really get the Hammers fans dreaming.
In other West Ham news, Alan Shearer has named four Hammers players in his team of the week.