West Ham manager David Moyes is expected to make a number of changes to his team for the clash with Rapid Vienna on Thursday evening at the London Stadium.
The Hammers go into the match top of Group H after a 2-0 away victory over Dinamo Zagreb, a tie Moyes described as the toughest of the group stages.
The manager was keen to point out that despite recognising his team as favourites for the clash he has full respect for Rapid Vienna and their manager Dietmar Kühbauer.
“We go into this game I’m sure as favourites, but I give Rapid Vienna big respect as we do all clubs,” Moyes said. “We’ve watched them closely and have been out to watch the games in Austria as well so we’ll give them all the respect.
“They have more experience than us in Europe in recent times, so we have to be really careful of that.”
With an injury to Ryan Fredericks and Vladimir Coufal a doubt Moyes is set to hand Ben Johnson a start at the London Stadium.
With that in mind here is how football.london think the Hammers will line-up against Rapid Vienna.
Predicted West Ham XI – Areola, Johnson, Diop, Dawson, Masuaku, Kral, Soucek, Fornals, Vlasic, Lanzini, Yarmolenko
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Moyes is expected to make a number of changes to his starting XI whilst still picking a strong XI to take on the Austrians.
Alphonse Areola shone in his Hammers debut against Manchester United and could get the nod over No.1 Lukasz Fabianski.
Craig Dawson and Issa Diop were also superb at Old Trafford and could replace Kurt Zouma and Angelo Ogbonna at the heart of the backline.
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Aaron Cresswell is due and rest and Arthur Masuaku is set to get the nod at left-back with Johnson starting on the right of defence.
In midfield, the manager has some tough decisions to make and is expected to settle on his Czech Republic international duo of Tomas Soucek and Alex Kral. Club captain Mark Noble is also an option the manager may use should he decide to make wholesale changes.
In the attacking area of the field, Moyes is likely to hand a rest to Michail Antonio, Jarrod Bowen and Said Benrahma. Andriy Yarmolenko will elad the line with Manuel Lanzini, Pablo Fornals, and Nikola Vlasic in support.
https://www.football.london/west-ham-united-fc/news/west-ham-rapid-vienna-team-21716678
