West Ham United will have to keep Manchester City striker Erling Haaland quiet if we are to have any chance of winning the match today.
Manchester City will be only the second team to play against West Ham at the London Stadium in the Premier League so far this season, and stopping Erling Haaland will be key for us.
Both the Hammers and Man City are in fine form – we’re currently sitting just three places and two points behind Pep Guardiola’s side.
The Premier League, Champions League and FA Cup holders are the best team in world football by a long way, so today’s game will be very difficult for us. However, David Moyes can do one thing in particular to negate the threat posed by their animalistic striker Haaland.
The 23-year-old is the most powerful centre-forward on the planet and Moyes needs to make one change in particular to combat that…
Moyes must start West Ham new-boy against Manchester City
Konstantinos Mavropanos has not played a single minute for the Hammers since his summer move from Stuttgart.
However, I think today will be the perfect time for him to come into the team in place of Nayef Aguerd.
The 27-year-old hasn’t been anywhere near his best this season and will be reeling from the devastating recent earthquake in Morocco.
Aguerd isn’t the most physical of central defenders and I just have visions of Haaland bullying him. However, that won’t happen if Mavropanos starts.
The 25-year-old is an absolute colossus. Standing at 6ft 4in tall, and built like a proverbial outhouse, Dinos will be able to handle the 23-year-old Man City star from a physical perspective.
The Greek ace is incredibly strong in the air and in the challenge. Haaland might have too much pace for him but so what, we’ll be playing with a deep back-line anyway.
He’s just played a game for Greece as well, so has some solid minutes under his belt.
I think that if West Ham are to have any chance of keeping out Manchester City, and Erling Haaland specifically, Moyes needs to give Konstantinos Mavropanos his first Premier League minutes of the season today.
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