David Moyes will make five West Ham changes for the must-win Aston Villa clash after star Lucas Paqueta was able to shake off a knock.
That’s what we predict as the Hammers welcome Villa to the London Stadium for Sunday’s 2pm kick-off as the fight for Premier League survival continues.
The confirmed team will be officially announced at 1pm. But before then here’s a look at how we believe Moyes will line up.
After a 5,000 mile round trip to Cyprus, full focus now turns to what is a huge match against Aston Villa at the London Stadium on Sunday afternoon.
West Ham know they need to pick up at least five wins from their remaining 13 league games to have a chance of staying up.
Predicted: David Moyes makes five West Ham changes for must-win Aston Villa clash after star Lucas Paqueta shakes off knock
And the pressure on Moyes and the Hammers was massively ramped up by results elsewhere yesterday as Bournemouth and Everton both won while Leeds got a point against Brighton.
The game has become huge overnight. It means defeat for West Ham at home to Villa would put us second bottom until we next play at the start of April. And should Southampton get an unlikely win at Man United, West Ham will go rank bottom for at least the next three weeks.
On the flip side, victory would move West Ham up to 14th and within touching distance of Crystal Palace and Wolves. So there is a lot at stake.
Read: Paul Merson predicts West Ham vs Villa and has his say on relegation
The Hammers have a good recent record against Aston Villa. But Unai Emery’s side go into the match off the back of consecutive league wins.
Goalkeeper Lukasz Fabianski has already returned to training after an eye socket operation. But Alphonse Areola is expected to keep his place for now.
There are doubts over Vladimir Coufal who has an injured heel and has been resting to recover. If he is available then expect him to return in a sixth change.
Moyes revealed Lucas Paqueta picked felt his calf when he came on in the 2-0 win over Larnaca too.
We predict Moyes makes five West Ham changes for the must-win Aston Villa clash after star Paqueta was able to shake off a knock.
Working on the basis that Coufal will be unavailable, we believe Thilo Kehrer will keep his place at right-back from midweek.
Aaron Cresswell will be replaced by Emerson in change number one from the team which started at Larnaca.
Flynn Downes will be replaced by Tomas Soucek in change number two while Jarrod Bowen comes back in for Pablo Fornals in change three.
Manuel Lanzini impressed in Cyprus but he will make way for Paqueta in change four after the Brazilian was pictured in training ahead of the Villa match.
And change number five will see Michail Antonio replaced by Danny Ings up front.
Predicted West Ham starting XI to face Aston Villa:
Areola, Kehrer, Zouma, Aguerd, Emerson, Rice, Soucek, Paqueta, Benrahma, Bowen, Ings.