In a match titled ‘El Sackico’, West Ham United host Wolverhampton Wanderers this Monday at the London Stadium. Kick-off is at 8:00 PM. It is widely expected that the manager of the club that loses will be sacked, whether that be Julen Lopetegui or Gary O’Neil. Last Word on Football brings you a West Ham Predicted Lineup vs Wolves.
West Ham Predicted Lineup vs Wolves
How West Ham Have Lined up Recently
As Alphonse Areola is absent with an injury, Polish international Lukasz Fabianski has started the last six matches for Lopetegui’s side. Despite the 39-year-old being called into action, he kept two consecutive clean sheets in his first matches since returning. That being said, since then, Lopetegui’s side have conceded eight goals in their last two matches, with five of those coming in the first half against Arsenal.
Lopetegui has consistently played a back four of Emerson, Max Kilman, Jean-Clair Todibo and Aaron Wan-Bissaka. This was altered for their midweek match against Leicester City, with Lopetegui swapping Todibo and Emerson for Vladimir Coufal and Konstantinos Mavropanos.
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The midfield has also been consistent, with Lopetegui preferring two defensive midfielders. This has usually been between Edson Alvarez and Guido Rodriguez, with Tomas Soucek alternating between them both. Soucek started against Everton alongside Rodriguez due to Alvarez’s red card against Nottingham Forest where he got two yellow cards in close concession.
Mohammed Kudus returned to the starting lineup after serving his five-match suspension. He replaced Crysencio Summerville who was benched for this match despite positive recent performances. Lucas Paqueta was also dropped for Alvarez. Jarrod Bowen has consistently started on the wing. Carlos Soler also started in attacking midfield.
Danny Ings started his first league match of the season but failed to score. He was later substituted by Michail Antonio, who has started consecutive matches under the Spaniard.
West Ham Recent Form
Lopetegui is under immense pressure to keep his job, much like his opponent this weekend Gary O’Neil. In their most recent match, West Ham lost 3-1 away to relegation-threatened Leicester City, with the hosts scoring two minutes into the start of the match through Jamie Vardy.
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This result has given Lopetegui one match to save his job, with David Sullivan describing the Wolves match as “D-Day for Lopetegui”. Graham Potter, Michael Carrick, Sergio Conceicao and Steve Cooper are all possible rumoured replacements,
West Ham Injuries to consider
Now that Niklas Fullkrug has returned to action, where he scored a consolation goal against Leicester City, West Ham have no long-term injuries. Ings picked up a knock in his most recent match but is not ruled out for the match against Wolves.
Todibo is also out due to a knock, yet it is widely speculated that the main reason for his absence against Leicester was due to him striking Lopetegui at halftime against Arsenal.
West Ham Predicted Lineup vs Wolves
GK – Fabianski
LB – Emerson
CB – Kilman
CB – Mavropanos
RB – Wan-Bissaka
CM – Soucek
CM – Paqueta
LW – Kudus
CM – Soler
RW – Bowen
ST – Fullkrug
