West Ham will be looking to make it four Premier League games unbeaten for the first time since March when they travel to Southampton on Boxing Day.
Only a week ago it would have been a fixture many will have looking to as an almost guaranteed win, with Southampton rock bottom of the Premier League.
But they will have a new manager in Ivan Juric in the dugout for the first time on Thursday after the Saints sacked Russell Martin, with the former Roma boss claiming in his first press conference that fans at St. Mary’s can expect “death metal football.”
What that means, no one really knows. Not yet anyway, but there is some apprehension now that West Ham are the first time to find out.
It means preparations for this game are a little trickier for Julen Lopetegui.
Southampton picked up an impressive point at Fulham last time out and while they’re still rock bottom of the Premier League, eight points from safety, there’s a real chance they can build on that with a new manager bounce-style performance in front of their own fans on Boxing Day.
We’ve already fallen victim to the new manager bounce once this season, falling to a 3-1 defeat away to Leicester City in Ruud van Nistelrooy’s first game in charge of the Foxes.
So all the confidence around this fixture a week ago has turned into apprehension.
So how does Lopetegui approach this one from a starting XI point of view? Thankfully, much of the squad picks itself now, but there will likely be a couple of changes to the XI that started in last weekend’s 1-1 draw with Brighton.
Paqueta hugs Lopetegui
Lucas Paqueta picked up his fifth yellow card of the season last time out, so he’ll miss this one. But Carlos Soler returns from his one match suspension and should slot in to that gap quite nicely.
The Spaniard has quietly impressed in recent weeks and has shown that he can be a worthwhile and effective alternative to his Brazilian teammate.
Elsewhere, we saw Konstantinos Mavropanos come off at half-time against Brighton, with Jean-Clair Todibo replacing him from the bench.
Lopetegui hinted in his pre-Southampton press conference that the Greece international is struggling with an injury. He didn’t name names, but given he was withdrawn at half-time it suggests he’s one of two players who have “a little problem” in the build-up to this one.
That means Todibo could come in from the start for this one.
Elsewhere, Niclas Fullkrug put in a good shift against Brighton and should keep his place in the starting XI. The Germany international needs minutes to get back to full fitness and while he’s impressed since returning from an achilles injury, I think it’s fair to suggest we’re still not seeing the very best of the former Borussia Dortmund hitman.
So, here’s how I think West Ham will line-up against Southampton on Boxing Day…
west ham precited XI v Southampton
What do you think?