West Ham United will welcome Chelsea at the London Stadium this Saturday afternoon as they hope to earn maximum points in front of their home fans in the Premier League. The Hammers were held to a 1-1 draw away at Newcastle United recently. Hence, they will be eager to respond positively by collecting maximum points from this London derby.
David Moyes will set his team up in a 3-4-2-1 formation and could opt to make one change to his first XI for this game. We can expect Ben Johnson to play from the start while Aaron Cresswell makes up the numbers on the bench.
3-4-2-1 West Ham United Predicted Lineup To Face Chelsea
Defence
Lukasz Fabianski will feature in between the sticks for the Hammers after conceding one goal versus the Magpies recently. Nayef Aguerd, Angelo Ogbonna and Ben Johnson will make up West Ham’s back three as they focus on stopping Chelsea from creating too many chances on the counter. All three of them need to be at the top of their game if the East London club are to secure a clean sheet this weekend.
As mentioned earlier, Aaron Cresswell will be available for selection on the bench as he provides cover for the centre-back spots.
Midfield
Declan Rice and Lucas Paqueta will anchor the midfield for West Ham as they try to make life difficult for the opposition at the centre of the park.
Emerson Palmieri could get a chance to shine as the left-sided wing-back while Vladimir Coufal hopes to impress on the right flank.
Said Benrahma and Jarrod Bowen will get the freedom to play as the free-flowing attacking midfielders in the Chelsea half. Both of them need to find a way to engineer some clear-cut chances on the attacking third of the pitch.
Pablo Fornals, Manuel Lanzini and Flynn Downes will be named on the bench and might come on to make an impact in the second 45 minutes if needed.
Attack
Michail Antonio will spearhead David Moyes’ attack on his own up top. The Jamaican striker would be eager to cause a few headaches for the Chelsea defenders and get his name on the scoresheet in this London derby.
Gianluca Scamacca is still sidelined because of a knee problem. However, Danny Ings should be named on the bench as he waits for his chance to shine in the final quarter of the game if West Ham are in need of a goal by then.
