West Ham will likely be seeking to seal their spot within the Europa Convention League quarter-finals once they tackle AEK Larnaca on the London Stadium this night.
David Moyes‘ facet lead 2-0 after their win in Cyprus final week and are snug favourites, regardless of their disappointing kind within the Premier League thus far this marketing campaign.
How ought to West Ham line up vs AEK Larnaca?
Though the Hammers haven’t got a Premier League sport this weekend as a result of Manchester City‘s development within the FA Cup, Thursday nonetheless represents a chance for Moyes to unleash among the academy skills and fringe gamers out there to him on the London Stadium.
Right here is how Football FanCast expects West Ham to line up on Thursday night, with eight adjustments from the group that started in opposition to Aston Villa over the weekend.
With Lukasz Fabianski nonetheless sidelined via harm, Alphonse Areola appears to be like more likely to maintain his place in objective, and the Frenchman will little doubt be concentrating on one other clear sheet in opposition to the Cypriot minnows this night.
There are three adjustments in defence, as solely Kurt Zouma retains his place as the previous Chelsea man continues to regain his match health following his harm issues.
Nayef Aguerd is rested with Angelo Ogbonna changing him within the coronary heart of the defence, whereas Ben Johnson and Aaron Cresswell are handed begins at right-back and left-back respectively, with Thilo Kehrer and Emerson dropping out.
Declan Rice is likely to be West Ham’s greatest participant, with Moyes labelling him an “exceptional” expertise earlier within the season, but when there have been any sport to relaxation him for, it could be this one.
This frees up 18-year-old academy expertise George Earthy to begin alongside Tomas Soucek in the midst of the park, with the 18-year-old boasting 4 objectives and eight assists in simply 9 appearances within the U18 Premier League this season.
Forgotten males Pablo Fornals and Manuel Lanzini are additionally given an opportunity to impress after underwhelming league campaigns which have returned simply one goal and one assist between them, whereas Maxwel Cornet additionally earns a begin after getting back from his long-term harm in current weeks.
Lastly, Gianluca Scamacca begins because the lone striker, in what could possibly be one of many final probabilities for the previous Sassuolo man to win over Moyes, with the Italian having dropped down the pecking order on the London Stadium following a sequence of poor performances, in addition to the January addition of Danny Ings.