David Moyes makes five West Ham changes as doubtful star is passed fit for Saints but the Hammers are forced to keep a back five.
West Ham take on Southampton on Sunday looking to make it five wins in a row and three on the bounce in the Premier League.
It marks a big turnaround in West Ham’s season after a dismal start which had seen Moyes under pressure for the first time since his return to east London in 2020.
If West Ham are a team on the up, Southampton are going in the opposite direction.
Ralph Hasenhuttl’s side have lost five of their last six Premier League matches and sit one place and one point above the bottom three a quarter of the way through the season.
Southampton will be without key players Moussa Djenepo and Romeo Lavia while their manager’s job appears to be on the line according to reports.
West Ham beat Anderlecht 2-1 on Thursday night to seal their place in the knockout stages of the Europa Conference League.
But the game came at a cost. Angelo Ogbonna and Craig Dawson both went off injured.
And after the game Moyes also revealed concerns over defensive duo Kurt Zouma and Thilo Kehrer.
Predicted: David Moyes makes five West Ham changes as doubtful star is passed fit for Saints
Versatile German Kehrer has been deployed at right-back during West Ham’s resurgence of late.
The good news is he was pictured in training ahead of the game.
Zouma has been kept away from the squad after picking up a bug but Michail Antonio is back after suffering with illness himself over the last week.
The game at Southampton is a massive opportunity for West Ham to record a third Premier League win on the bounce and climb into the top half of the table.
So it is frustrating that the Hammers will not have their full strength side out.
We predict Moyes makes five West Ham changes as doubtful star is passed fit for Saints.
Kehrer had a knock but returns in a welcome boost. And assuming neither Dawson nor Ogbonna will make it back, we believe Moyes will be forced to stick with a back five at St Mary’s.
Lukasz Fabianski will replace Alphonse Areola in change number one.
Kehrer will come in for Ogbonna and play between Ben Johnson and Aaron Cresswell – who both started in a back three against Anderlecht.
There have been calls for Flynn Downes to keep his place in the side following another man of the match display.
Downes’ form does given Moyes the option of putting Declan Rice at centre-back but we are not sure the Scot would do that at this stage.
So Rice and Tomas Soucek will return to the starting XI in changes three and four.
As a result of the necessity to play a back five, Said Benrahma – another West Ham fans have been calling for Moyes to start in the Premier League – suffers. He will drop out for Gianluca Scamacca with Lucas Paqueta moving to that left side.
Moyes could be tempted to put Pablo Fornals in as a left wingback in place of Emerson so that he has more flexibility in game.
But with five substitutes available he knows he can alter things without worrying about that.
Dawson is so key, if West Ham could somehow get him fit then Moyes could play a back four which would give him a decision to make over whether to start Fornals or Benrahma.
Predicted West Ham starting XI to face Southampton:
Fabianski, Coufal, Johnson, Kehrer, Cresswell, Emerson, Rice, Soucek, Paqueta, Bowen, Scamacca.
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