Football is finally back and it doesn’t start easy for West Ham. Who will make the starting XI and extended bench for the Hammers clash with Wolves?
First things first, for West Ham and predicting a team we have to assess what formation David Moyes will deploy his players in to face Wolves. Common sense would suggest he’d stick to the 4-4-2 formation that saw strong performances against Liverpool, Southampton, and Arsenal but don’t count on that.
Closed-door friendlies with no video or tactical breakdowns have protected Moyes’ formations and tactics which hints for a change. Prepare for Sebastien Haller as a lone striker, but with wide attackers committed forward.
The formation I am picking based on players and closed-door hints is 4-2-3-1. If the Hammers have figured out a way to support Haller and also be defensively stout, this should be their formation moving forward.
Predicted XI:
Fabianski
Ngakia – Diop – Rice – Cresswell
Soucek – Noble
Bowen – Fornals – Anderson
Sebastien Haller
Bench: Randolph, Fredericks, Balbuena, Snodgrass, Wilshere, Yarmolenko, Antonio, Lanzini, Ajeti
A few notable things about this formation and this team – Haller is isolated, Fornals is central, Anderson is starting, Ngakia is being used in what could be his last name, Masuaku is absent, Rice is at centreback, and Noble still factors in.
The nice thing about this formation is that it can be versatile. Should Moyes not be happy with the way the team is playing positionally, Anderson can replace Bowen, Bowen can act as a striker, and Fornals can return to the left side of the pitch.
As well, Wolves are a very midfield heavy team, having Noble and Soucek in holding positions plus Pablo Fornals as the 10 means Reuben Neves and Joao Moutinho will have less time on the ball to activate their forwards and wingbacks.
The bench offers attacking options and like-for-like replacements across the board. Lanzini for Fornals, Antonio for Anderson, Yarmolenko for Bowen, Snodgrass and Wilshere in the central midfield, and two defensive subs that shouldn’t be needed.
This team is strong enough on paper to hang with a slick, attacking Wolves team, but their positional awareness and counter-attacking will need to be relied on to get a result at home in their first start back.