West Ham United will host Everton in their Premier League clash this afternoon at the London Stadium and David Moyes will be likely to give his team a refresh after a disappointing result in the Europa League.
The Hammers will be hoping for a return to winning ways after a difficult week of football for the side with a heavy 4-1 defeat to Aston Villa last weekend and then a disappointing 2-1 loss against Olympiacos on Thursday evening, ending their 17-game unbeaten run in the Europa League.
David Moyes will be looking to give the home support something to believe in when he picks his starting eleven to take on his former club this afternoon and a refresh is very much needed to ensure a positive outcome in East London.
In terms of injuries, Vladimir Coufal will undergo a late fitness test after suffering muscle tightness and missing out on the trip to Athens mid-week, otherwise, no further injury concerns are going into the game.
However, full-back Emerson will serve a one-match suspension after tallying up five yellow cards in the Premier League, so Moyes will need to lean on either Aaron Cresswell or Ben Johnson who both returned to the squad in Greece on Thursday after recovering from injuries.
How could West line up against Everton?
We predict that Moyes will make seven changes to his team that lost 2-1 to Olympiacos, deploying a 4-2-3-1 formation against Sean Dyche’s side.
In the defensive set-up, we expect to see a major shake-up with only Alphonse Areola retaining his spot in the starting eleven, whilst Ben Johnson, Nayef Aguerd, Kurt Zouma and Vladimir Coufal make up the back four.
In the centre of the pitch, we predict at Edson Alvarez will join James Ward-Prowse in midfield whilst Kudus will make his Premier League debut in the more advanced role.
In terms of the attacking threat, we expect to see another complete reshuffle with Michail Antonio, Jarrod Bowen and Lucas Paqueta returning to complete the powerful presence in the final third.
With that being said, nothing short of a victory will be deemed as acceptable for the supporters after a lack of composure away from home over the last week.
