Julen Lopetegui’s West Ham take on Enzo Maresca’s Chelsea in the Premier League at the London Stadium on Saturday, September 21, 2024. The Irons will look to make it seven points from a possible fifteen. The kick-off is at 12:30 p.m. Last Word on Football brings you a West Ham United predicted lineup.
West Ham United Predicted Lineup vs Chelsea
How West Ham Have Lined up Recently
Alphonse Areola has started every game for West Ham so far this season apart from the Irons cup win against Andoni Iraola’s Bournemouth where Łukasz Fabiański began in a 1-0 win. The 31-year-old French international has played 315 minutes of football this season, conceding five goals in four matches and keeping a clean sheet against Crystal Palace away in the second match. Areola has a save percentage of 67% with an xG of 4.05 faced.
Emerson Palmieri, Konstantinos Mavropanos, Max Kilman and Aaron Wan-Bissaka are the back four that took to the field in their last league game before the international break against Manchester City. Emerson was replaced with an injury early in the second half and was replaced by Vladimir Coufal.
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Despite many of West Ham’s players still being embedded into David Moyes’ defensively minded system, Lopetegui has shown he is brave enough to change his system. In their 3-1 home loss to Manchester City, the Spaniard opted for a midfield three of new signing Guido Rodriguez, who was signed this summer for free from Seville-based La Liga club Real Betis, Edson Alvarez and star man Lucas Paqueta.
This was altered against Marco Silva’s Fulham, with the Hammers playing a 4-2-3-1, with Rodriguez and Alvarez in defensive midfield and Mohammed Kudus, Tomas Soucek and Jarrod Bowen in attacking midfield. Rodriguez and Alvarez have played with each other before at Liga MX side Club America, winning the Mexican title. Michael Antonio has started every league match for the Hammers so far.
West Ham’s Recent Form
The Hammers come into this game after gaining an extremely late equaliser to Fulham away at Craven Cottage. This was thanks to a Danny Ings 90+5’th minute goal, despite Lopetegui’s side only creating one big chance. The game was very even with Marco Silva’s Fulham having five shots on target to West Ham’s three, albeit the Cottagers did have a total of 21 shots.
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Before the match against London rivals Fulham, they fell 3-1 to Manchester City. It was a somewhat equal match with West Ham creating various chances on the counterattack. In doing so, Lopetegui’s side had ten shots on goal, the joint-most City have conceded this season since Matchweek One against Chelsea. West Ham had won their most recent two matches before their clash against Pep Guardiola’s side.
Injuries for Lopetegui to Consider
Former Real Madrid, Spain and Wolves manager Lopetegui will only have one injury to consider ahead of their all-London affair. This comes through Füllkrug who picked up a Calf injury on the 9th of September. There is no official date of his return, but it is doubtful that he will make an appearance this weekend and against Liverpool in the Carabao Cup third round midweek.
West Ham Predicted Lineup vs Chelsea
GK – Areola
LB – Emerson
CB – Kilman
CB – Mavropanos
RB – Wan-Bissaka
CM – Rodriguez
CM – Alvarez
CM – Paqueta
LM – Kudus
ST – Antonio
RM – Bowen
