West Ham United‘s late defeat in opposition to Newcastle United on Saturday afternoon has left a nasty bruise, not least as a result of David Moyes‘ facet had impressively engineered a 3-1 lead heading into the ultimate quarter.
Nonetheless seventh within the Premier League, although slenderly so and having performed a further recreation than their rivals, West Ham face fairly the duty in securing a European qualifying spot if a vein of consistency is just not discovered quickly.
Up subsequent, Champions League-chasing Tottenham Hotspur make the cross-London journey to avenge their residence loss to the Irons within the reverse fixture. The Hammers might be up for the event, keen to place the loss on Tyneside behind them.
West Ham staff information
Crucially, Edson Alvarez will miss out as soon as once more as he serves the second match of a two-game suspension after amassing ten yellow playing cards this season.
Nayef Aguerd could return to central defence however goalkeeper Alphonse Areola will miss out after choosing up a groin harm in Newcastle, with the Frenchman boasting the best shot-stopping document within the division this season.
|
Premier League 23/24: Prime Goalkeeper Save Percentages |
|||
|---|---|---|---|
|
# |
Participant |
Membership |
Save Proportion |
|
1. |
Alphonse Areola |
West Ham |
75.8% |
|
2. |
Alisson |
Liverpool |
75.3% |
|
3. |
Andre Onana |
Manchester United |
74.7% |
|
4. |
Nick Pope |
Newcastle United |
73.6% |
|
5. |
Bart Verbruggen |
Brighton & Hove Albion |
72.9% |
|
Stats through FBref |
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Tottenham have a wealth of attacking firepower that might harm the hosts, and contemplating this, Moyes is perhaps inclined to push Lucas Paqueta right into a deeper-lying function, pushing James Ward-Prowse to the bench.
West Ham may ditch James Ward-Prowse vs Spurs
It goes with out saying that Kalvin Phillips is not going to discover his method onto the beginning teamsheet, with the England worldwide having an totally torrid time in east London as he completes a six-month mortgage spell, looking for (unsuccessfully) to resurrect his flagging profession.
One other participant who may discover themselves away from the beginning line-up this night is Vladimir Coufal, who has been largely reliable this season however dedicated the early penalty at St. James’ Park, received only one duel and misplaced possession 12 instances throughout a wholly forgettable show.
Ward-Prowse, signed from Southampton for £30m final summer season, began excellently and certainly has 5 targets and 11 assists as a Hammer, praised for his “magic” means on the ball by journalist Benjy Nurick. He scored in opposition to Tottenham again in December.
However he is not fairly been on the races lately and was significantly stunning final month in opposition to Burnley, taking simply 24 touches and failing to win a floor duel because the relegation strugglers went 2-0 up on the break. Ward-Prowse, together with Phillips, was hooked.
Enjoying Paqueta in a deeper, central function will surely be a risk in opposition to Tottenham, with the Brazilian rating among the many prime 8% of attacking midfielders and wingers throughout Europe’s prime 5 leagues over the previous 12 months for passes tried, the highest 6% for progressive passes, the highest 1% for tackles, the highest 18% for interceptions and the highest 4% for aerial wins per 90, as per FBref.
Paqueta additionally received 9 duels in opposition to Newcastle, made two tackles and two key passes, highlighting his elite and full ability set that greater than facilitates his return to a deeper function.
After all, this does open up the query relating to who would play alongside or behind Michail Antonio within the talismanic function, and Ward-Prowse may definitely do a job larger up, with Danny Ings additionally succesful in a extra inventive deployment, creating 4 key passes when he final sat in an attacking midfield function within the Premier League, in opposition to Sheffield United in January.
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This might take the Hammers up a stage solely.
Whereas Moyes is just not one for widespread adjustments, West Ham’s fragility was regarding in opposition to the Magpies and he is perhaps satisfied to tweak the set-up in opposition to Tottenham, who will come out firing as they battle for their very own European qualifying spot.
