West Ham United will entertain Wolves at the London Stadium on Saturday afternoon hoping to get the first win of their Premier League season. They have made a disappointing start so far after losing to Liverpool, Bournemouth and Arsenal respectively. However, a home fixture against Nuno Espirito Santo’s team could serve as an ideal opportunity to get some points on the board.
Manuel Pellegrini might stick with his favoured 4-2-3-1 formation and might hand Andriy Yarmolenko a start in his first eleven.
4-2-3-1 West Ham United Predicted Lineup To Face Wolves
Defence
Lukasz Fabianski would line up as the goalkeeper once again for West Ham on Saturday after conceding nine goals in his first three league starts this season. The Polish shot-stopper was rested in the midweek League Cup fixture against AFC Wimbledon, and he would be hoping to come back strong against the newly promoted Wolves side.
The centre-half pairing of Issa Diop and Fabián Balbuena would start in front of Fabianski while Arthur Masuaku plays as the left-back and Ryan Fredericks starts on the other side of the backline. However, Manuel Pellegrini will have to make things work without the services of Winston Reid who will miss out on this contest due to an injury. Ogbonna would miss out despite scoring a goal yesterday in the League Cup.
The West Ham defence needs to keep things stable at the back if they are to stop Wolves from scoring at the London Stadium. They are likely to come up against an attacking trio of Diogo Jota, Raul Jimenez and Helder Costa, so it would be a tough ask for their defenders to neutralise their threat.
Midfield
The midfield duo of Jack Wilshere and Carlos Sanchez could be unleashed as the holding midfielders while the trio of Robert Snodgrass, Felipe Anderson and Andriy Yarmolenko would operate just ahead of them in the Wolves half.
Yarmolenko could again be handed a start for the Hammers on Saturday so he would need to put in a good performance if he wants to get more opportunities in Pellegrini’s first XI.
Attack
Marko Arnautovic is a major doubt for this game after coming off with an injury against Arsenal last weekend. However, he could start up top for the home team after scoring at the Emirates Stadium last Saturday.
The 29-year-old Austrian forward has been West Ham’s star man over the past few years, and he has started the new campaign on fire with two goals to his name in three league starts.
