Let the lads play! West Ham Predicted XI vs. Tottenham

After a merciful international break, West Ham are fit and poised to continue their strong form against cross-London rivals, Tottenham Hotspur with THIS predicted team.

No one predicted West Ham beating up Wolves 4-0 after an opening week loss to Newcastle and an improved but still lacking performance against Arsenal. To follow that lopsided win with another, this time against Leicester, without allowing a shot on target was truly shocking.

Blame the revival on a new formation and style of play and credit David Moyes and his team of coaches for implementing it perfectly. Adding an extra centre-half and liberating the now wingbacks to fly up the pitch has been a stroke of genius.

This formation has also allowed a few players to get back to their best positions, most notably Arthur Masuaku as a wingback and most surprisingly has been Aaron Cresswell as a centre-back. Pablo Fornals is still out of position on the left and Sebastien Haller cannot break-in, but still, it is a strong team.

With this being said, it is an unchanged XI with a jumbled bench to face Spurs:

Fabianski
Coufal – Balbuena – Ogbonna – Cresswell – Masuaku
Rice – Soucek
Bowen – Antonio – Fornals

Bench: Randolph, Diop, Fredericks, Noble, Yarmolenko, Lanzini, Haller.

Let’s start with the bench. Said Benrahma wasn’t signed in time to be available for this match so he is omitted from the squad. Ben Johnson and Craig Dawson miss out in defensive cover with Issa Diop and Ryan Fredericks returning to the bench. Robert Snodgrass also misses out due to a lack of bench space.

This team deserves to stay together and despite Fredericks and Diop returning from injury, the XI won’t budge from the Leicester team after restricting the Vardy lead attack to no shots on target. The resolute defending of this group cannot be overstated.

Haller and Yarmolenko are late-game attacking substitutes waiting to happen, but the absence of Felipe Anderson restricts this team from changing pace down the left side if needed or forced. Manuel Lanzini can be forced there, but Benrahma’s presence will only bury the Argentine in future matches.

There is no reason that this team cannot topple Spurs as they finally seem to have captured their potential on the pitch to match their ‘on paper’ abilities. No reason to change or adjust, Moyes can let his lads play and hopefully continue their strong run of form.