West Ham United vs Charlton Athletic: League Cup Preview
West Ham will start their League Cup campaign at the London Stadium against League One side Charlton Atheltic.
After defeat to Newcastle on Saturday in the Premier League, the cup fixture could provide West Ham with the perfect opportunity to kickstart their season. David Moyes could name a number of changes to the side to freshen up the team and give it some new ideas.
West Ham Team News
As always when a Premier League team comes up against a lower league side in the cup there are expected changes made to the squad. Moyes could use this match against Charlton to give run-outs to some of the fringe players.
It could be best for Moyes to name a relatively strong side in order to try and win by as much as possible to give the team a much-needed confidence boost. Players like Sebastien Haller, Arthur Masuaku and Josh Cullen could come back into the team after their impressive preseason campaigns.
Giving these three an opportunity would mean Aaron Cresswell, Mark Noble and Declan Rice drop to the bench. Rice could benefit from this as he looked tired in the match against Newcastle. The midfielder was injured for preseason and then played two international matches.
Dropping Noble could give Moyes and a chance to see how well Michail Antonio and Haller can play together in a front two. Cresswell on the other hand needs to be dropped and Masuaku is the next in line to replace him.
Predicted Line-Up
Match Prediction
West Ham should have too much up to their sleeves for the League One side. This quality should be enough to see the Hammers through the next round of the League Cup. The main objective from this match for Moyes and his players should be to build up confidence.
The club’s morale seems to be at an all-time low since the sale of Grady Diangana and defeats to Newcastle in the League and defeat to Bournemouth in the Betway Cup. Therefore, a big win could do the teams morale a world of good.
It is very important that the club wins this match. They have a tough run of fixtures in the league coming up, and if they lose it could see a similar impact as the defeat to Oxford caused last season.
Score Prediction
2-0, Haller and Antonio to score.