Swiping away all apprehensions of a Dimitri Payet less West Ham United team, Slaven Bilic’s men showed tremendous spirit and flair last week when they went past Crystal Palace with a 3-0 rout. The Hammers were at their very best, form that hasn’t been seen earlier this season so far.
West Ham fans are expecting major signings in the ongoing transfer season and finding a replacement for Payet has further doubled the task for Bilic. With many players either injured or away at the African Cup of Nations, the Hammers need reinforcements to keep up their positive run as the season advances.
West Ham are 12th in the league table and a win in their game could very well push them up to the top half of the table. They, however, face a tricky opponent on Saturday when they visit the Riverside Stadium. While Middlesbrough haven’t been the best in terms of attack so far, this season, they sure have been a tough opponent to beat at times.
It will be an interesting clash given their recent results. While Boro are winless in their last eight league games, West Ham have won just one of their last 11 trips to the Riverside Stadium. Hence, the first to score will have an upper hand.
Defence
Slaven Bilic was given a huge boost last week in the return of James Collins as he saw a solid three-man defence against Crystal Palace, which looked composed, flexible and unbreakable. We expect the Croat to stick with his success formula against Boro, whose attack hasn’t been a hair-raising one so far.
Angelo Ogbonna is expected to start on the left centre back position with Winston Reid starting as the right centre-back. Collins should continue to start as the central defender.
Aaron Cresswell and Michail Antonio should continue to act as wing backs this time too. Both the players put in some encouraging displays during West Ham’s gloomy period and Bilic has immense trust on them to take most of the load in balancing the defensive and the offensive duties from the flanks.
Midfield
Pedro Obiang is expected to start alongside Mark Noble in the anchor position. The duo looked comfortable and synced quite well with each other at the heart of the field. They would sit behind Manual Lanzini and Sofiane Feghouli.
Lanzini has been one of the stars buys for West Ham this season scoring 4 goals already. Feghouli hasn’t had any such impact. The former Valencia man, however, has got a goal last match and Bilic is expected to start with him.
Attack
After numerous experiments, it seems like Bilic will now stick with one striker up front until Ayew returns. Andy Carroll scored a wonder goal last match and is brimming with confidence. He’ll be a major threat to the Boro defence.
Randolph
Reid – Collins – Ogbonna
Antonio – Noble – Obiang – Cresswell
Feghouli – Lanzini
Carroll
