West Ham United will entertain Chelsea at the London Stadium on Saturday as they look to secure maximum points to consolidate their position in the Premier League’s top four. The Hammers suffered a hard-fought 3-2 loss at the hands of Newcastle United last weekend, so David Moyes will be desperate to get a positive response from his players in this exciting London derby.
The East London outfit will set themselves up in a 3-4-3 formation with Moyes forced to make one change to his starting XI for this home game. Fabian Balbuena is expected to get a start at the expense of Craig Dawson, who will miss this derby due to suspension.
3-4-3 West Ham United Predicted Lineup To Face Chelsea
Defence
Łukasz Fabiański will retain his place between the sticks for Moyes’ side after he conceded three goals versus the Magpies in his last league start. The East London giants could opt for a back three of Fabian Balbuena, Issa Diop and Angelo Ogbonna as they look to keep things solid at the back throughout the 90 minutes.
As mentioned earlier, Dawson is injured, so Frederik Alves will offer cover for the centre-half positions on the bench.
Midfield
Mark Noble will anchor the midfield alongside Tomas Soucek as they look to win some of the 50-50 duels with the opposition at the centre of the park and feed some decent balls to the front players. Ben Johnson will get another chance to catch the eye down the left flank while Vladimír Coufal hopes to give a good account of himself on the other side as the right wing-back.
Arthur Masuaku is unlikely to be risked in this game, but Ryan Fredericks will be available for selection on the bench.
Attack
Jesse Lingard will look to impress from the left flank, while Jarrod Bowen focuses on getting in behind the Chelsea backline as the right-sided winger. Pablo Fornals could once again play as a false-nine forward down the middle in the injury absence of Michail Antonio.
Said Benrahma and Manuel Lanzini will be named on the bench as they wait for their chance to make an impact in the second half if needed.
