West Ham travel to the south coast to take on Bournemouth tonight, and Julen Lopetegui has named his starting XI for the match.
Julen Lopetegui is in desperate need of a win tonight, with his job hanging in the balance.
West Ham won 2-1 last time out against Wolves, but tonight’s Premier League clash with Bournemouth will be a different prospect all together.
Lopetegui has failed to get his team firing this season, and the clash with the Cherries is a big opportunity for him to prove that he is the right man to take us to the next level.
Bournemouth are extremely well-drilled under Andoni Iraola, and they will certainly cause us a problem with their high and aggressive press.
So how has Lopetegui lined up his team to combat the Cherries’ threat?
West Ham starting XI vs Bournemouth confirmed
Lopetegui has chosen a strong starting XI for the huge showdown with the Cherries on the south coast tonight.
West Ham United manager Julen Lopetegui during the Premier League match between West Ham United FC and Wolverhampton Wanderers FC at London Stadium...
Photo by Rob Newell – CameraSport via Getty Images
Here’s how the Hammers line up, as confirmed via the club’s official X account:
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Lukasz Fabianski, Aaron Wan-Bissaka, Max Kilman, Konstantinos Mavropanos, Vladimir Coufal, Carlos Soler, Tomas Soucek, Edson Alvarez, Lucas Paqueta, Mohammed Kudus, Jarrod Bowen
The decision to drop Crysencio Summerville – our best player against Wolves, absolutely stunned me.
And the fact that he has brought Paqueta into the team in spite of his poor form is highly questionable as well.
However, on paper, that’s an extremely strong side – one more than capable of getting all three points against the Cherries.
That said, we all know how strong they are at home – they’ve already beaten Arsenal and Tottenham and drawn with Manchester City at the vitality Stadium.
In all fairness, a draw would actually be a decent result tonight, but it might not be enough to save Lopetegui his job.
As hard as it is to admit, I just cannot see us getting anything against a very well-drilled Bournemouth side.
The West Ham starting XI selected by Lopetegui has enough to cause them problems, but I still worry about our defence.
Still, you never know. The Hammers players might just surprise us like they did up at Newcastle last month.
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