WHZ View: Predicted West Ham starting XI v Arsenal
West Ham will be hoping for an improved performance this weekend when they host Arsenal at the London Stadium.
The Hammers were woeful last weekend at Old Trafford. David Moyes’ side were undone by a Craig Dawson own goal in the second half, and never actually looked like scoring.
Moyes went up to Manchester United with the game plan to defend. It simply won’t do this weekend at home to Arsenal, we need to play on the front foot.
The Gunners will be confident, they’ve won five of their last six and haven’t lost in just under a month. Big league wins over Spurs and Leicester have given them hope of a late push up the table.
With that in mind, West Ham Zone predicts Moyes to name the following XI to host Mikel Arteta’s side tomorrow afternoon.
We expect Lukasz Fabianski to play in goal. He was excellent against United last week, making key saves from Bruno Fernandes and Mason Greenwood.
The back four will should remain unchanged. Moyes doesn’t like to switch defenders, so we’ll likely see Vladimir Coufal and Aaron Cresswell in the full-back positions. Craig Dawson and Issa Diop have formed a good partnership at the heart of defence in the absence of Angelo Ogbonna – this should resume.
Declan Rice and Tomas Soucek will likely line up in the middle together for the 29th time this season. They’re arguably the best midfield partnership in the top-flight, and are probably the first two names on the team sheet.
We expect Moyes to revert back to a 4-2-3-1 formation in an attempt to take the game to Arsenal. Jarrod Bowen will likely play down the right, with Said Benrahma and Jesse Lingard coming back into the side. The attacking trio interchange brilliantly when on together, we’re hoping to see more of this.
Pablo Forals looks likely to miss the XI. He is trying to recover from a muscular injury in time for Sunday, but could make the bench.
Michail Antonio will lead the line for the Hammers. He scored in the reverse fixture as the Gunners won 2-1 in September, and will be looking to improve on his seven league goals.
In other West Ham news, Frank McAvennie has given his prediction for the clash tomorrow.