West Ham vs Tottenham Predicted Lineups

West Ham enter this clash against Tottenham off the back of a desperately needed win over Nottingham Forest. The Hammers entered the game against Forest fresh off two losses – 1-5 to Chelsea and 3-0 to Sunderland. There was serious talk of firing Graham Potter, of Bowen maybe leaving before the window closed, and naturally the threat of relegation was real. Only a week later, to make a few changes to the starting lineup and pull a 0-3 win away from home out of the bag was as surprising as it was needed and for now, the ship has been steadied.

The Tottenham team that are coming to the London Stadium this weekend are a far cry from the team that finished 17th last season. They may have lost to Bournemouth in GW3, who are a good side themselves, but that was after the Frank era started with wins over Manchester City and Burnley. Spurs have only conceded 1 goal in 3 games, which was an impossibility under Ange, and look a much more solid, well drilled team out of possession, and a smarter football team in general under Thomas Frank. They have dealt with a fair few injuries already this season, so Thomas Frank and Tottenham fans alike will be excited by the arrivals of Kolo Muani and Xavi Simons, who may feature in this game.

Coming off the 1-0 loss to Bournemouth, Spurs will look to show that was merely a blip in an otherwise great start to the season, by dominating a West Ham team that is weak in defence and midfield. Frank made the mistake against Bournemouth of setting up with with a midfield whose strengths are more out of possession than in possession, and he will look to rectify that against a West Ham team that is significantly worse than the Cherries. Spurs are the more athletic and talented team and will look to show that on Saturday.

 

Lineups will be updated throughout the week in live time as and when injury and lineup news is announced.

Green Light: Confident the player will start.

Amber Light: A toss up on whether the player will start.

Red Light: Confident the player will not start.

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West Ham United Predicted Lineup:

West Ham Team News:

Potter made a shift from the back-5 system he was using and moved to a 4-2-1-3 and brought new signing Matheus Fernandes in to play left-wing, with Paqueta in the 10 role, Bowen off the right, ahead of Soucek and Ward-Prowse. Defensively they looked much more solid despite starting one less defender. You have to think the first win of the season, after two horrendous losses leads Potter to sticking with the system that got him that win.

Lucas Paqueta has decided to stay at West Ham instead of making the switch to Aston Villa and signaled as much with his goal celebration against Forest. He will start for the Hammers in GW4, almost certainly in the 10 role once again. Walker-Peters replaced Wan-Bissaka in the starting XI and given the result, I would imagine Walker-Peters will keep his place. Matheus Fernandes should start again at LW. The youngster was Southampton’s best player last season despite all the talk of £100 million price-tags on Tyler Dibbling and is sneakily a very good addition that could help West Ham stay up.

While Ward-Prowse and Soucek did do a better job in GW3, I do still think Ward-Prowse could be replaced in the starting lineup by Potts at some point this season. We will have to see what changes Potter makes to the starting lineup over the next few Gameweeks, as they will inevitably lose the majority of those games and he will be forced into making changes to the starting XI in order to save his job.

Summerville returned against Nottingham Forest, making a cameo off the bench and playing a crucial part in the victory, notching the assist for Bowen’s opening goal. The international break was a good chance for him to continue ramping up his fitness levels, and  there is a world where Summerville could replace either Fernandes or Fullkrug (not directly, Bowen would then play as the striker) in the starting lineup.

West Ham Players to Watch:

Paqueta:

Fernandes:

Walker-Peters:

Ward-Prowse:

Wan-Bissaka:

Summervile:

Tottenham Hotspur Predicted Lineup:

Tottenham Team News:

Thomas Frank, speaking on Friday informed the media “Everyone is fine. Everyone returned well. Everyone is in a good place. Dom (Solanke) won’t be available still. I don’t expect it to be too long but he won’t be available for this game.” No new injury news coming out of the international break outside of Solanke, but he was not a major factor so far this season anyway.

Tottenham have signed Xavi Simons for £52 million and Kolo Muani on loan from PSG, two major additions to the forward line. Frank spoke about the pair on Friday saying “Both of them are looking good. Both are in contention for the squad. Xavi, for natural reasons, is further down the line as he has played for Holland and a few games for Leipzig. Randal hasn’t played since the Club World Cup and didn’t really train at PSG so he is not as fit as Xavi.”

Kolo Muani had the international break to train with his new coaches as he was not called up to the France National Team squad but clearly needs more time to gain match fitness. With how poor Brennan Johnson was against Bournemouth, where he was replaced by Odobert in the 54th minute, Xavi Simons is in line to start at left-wing and immediately upgrade the talent level of Spurs attack. As Frank says he is further along, I think that’s a solid hint towards his plan for this weekends starting XI. Richarlison will likely start over Kolo Muani but we will see if that changes over the next few games.

Despite Udogie’s return to fitness I believe Spence is the starting left-back as things stand. He is an excellent full-back and has been in great form for over a year now. Udogie will likely have to displace Spence who got his first call up to the England squad.

I believe Frank found out against Bournemouth that the Palhinha and Bentancur double pivot with Sarr ahead can be used for when Spurs are evenly matched or underdogs, but when they should be the better team and dominate a game, Spurs midfield just does not need to be so defensively-minded. Bergvall adds on ball quality and passing and will help Spurs dominate on the ball against a poor West Ham team.

Tottenham Players to Watch:

Spence:

Bergvall:

Richarlison:

Simons:

Johnson:

Udogie:

Palhinha:

Kolo Muani:

Final Thoughts:

Frank will set up in with his 4-3-3 system most likely but opt for a more attacking lineup than he did against Bournemouth and look to dominate possession, establish control of the game, create good chances and put a weak West Ham team away early. With new signings Kolo Muani and Xavi Simons helping to make Tottenham a better attacking team and team overall, and just how poor West Ham were the first 2 weeks, Spurs should get the job done over their London rivals.