We think David Moyes makes one big West Ham change for Chelsea after deciding who to bench for new star’s debut.
West Ham welcome rivals Chelsea to the London Stadium for the first home game of the new season on Sunday evening.
Chelsea may have been adding to their expensive squad like there’s no tomorrow – but they’ll be without a large number of them for the clash with West Ham.
Blues captain Reece James will miss the game against West Ham along with SIX of his teammates.
Mauricio Pochettino has no shortage of options in his massive squad.
David Moyes does not quite have the same level of luxury – but the Scot does have one or two big decisions to make for the Chelsea match.
Chief among them is what to do about shoehorning £64m worth of new central midfield signings into the Hammers side.
Vladimir Coufal has been raving about how impressive Mexican destroyer Edson Alvarez has looked in training since arriving from Ajax last week.
Moyes now has dead ball specialist James Ward-Prowse in his ranks too.
And he will be well aware that Ward-Prowse scored his last free-kick goal against Chelsea back in February. Pochettino will be well aware of his talents too having managed him at Southampton.
Who comes in and who drops out for the hosts against the west Londoners?
At this early stage of the season it’s hard to tell whether Moyes will stick with four at the back against the better sides or switch to a five.
We predict Moyes makes one big West Ham change for Chelsea after deciding who to bench for new star’s debut.
We think Ward-Prowse will start for West Ham against Chelsea. And in the only change from the Bournemouth starting XI, Moyes will bench Said Benrahma with Pablo Fornals playing on the left.
Alvarez will have to make do with a place on the bench and it might mean Moyes finally names a bench without two goalkeepers!
Benrahma frustrated against Bournemouth with his decision making and was criticised by Hammers legend Tony Gale.
Fornals was one of West Ham’s better players on the day and Moyes will favour his workrate against a Chelsea side who will have most of the ball.
Predicted West Ham starting XI to face Chelsea:
Areola, Coufal, Zouma, Aguerd, Emerson, Soucek, Ward-Prowse, Paqueta, Fornals, Bowen, Antonio.