Burnley v West Ham United
EFL Championship
Turf Moor
Sunday 16 August 2026, 4pm BST
West Ham’s Championship campaign begins
West Ham’s Championship campaign kicks off for real this Sunday, and it is sort of appropriate that our opponents are Burnley, who were also relegated from the Premier League last season.
Probably too many times over the last few months we’ve described games as massive, but I can’t help feeling this really is one for the Hammers. The result could well set the tone for the season.
Nuno Espírito Santo and the boys will have been lifted by last weekend’s 3-1 Carabao Cup win against Portsmouth, but I can’t help feeling that facing the Clarets will be a far more difficult task.
Nuno has big decisions to make, although probably not as many as he would like due to the fact that West Ham’s owners have thus far failed to reinforce the squad adequately. It would be fair to say the Hammers have been slow in their transfer business.
Orford and Kante both performed well against Portsmouth
Burnley remain something of an unknown
Burnley have been on the promotion-swiftly-followed-by-relegation rollercoaster for a few seasons now.
The Clarets have experienced four promotions to the Premier League under three different managers since 2014, with Sean Dyche, Vincent Kompany and Scott Parker all taking them up. Three of those promotions, including the last two, ended with immediate relegation.
Last season was particularly difficult. Burnley won only four Premier League games, collecting 22 points, and recorded just two victories from their 19 home fixtures.
I don’t know enough about Burnley under new manager Nicky Hayen, and I don’t mind admitting it.
However, I did think it was odd for Burnley to part company with Scott Parker because he was pretty much guaranteed to get them promoted. Parker has already won promotion from the Championship three times, so moving on from him feels like a risky strategy.
Burley ditched former Hammer Scott Parker
Burnley initially attempted to appoint Wales manager Craig Bellamy before eventually turning to former Genk boss Hayen. Therefore, Sunday will represent a step into the unknown for both clubs.
The Clarets progressed in the Carabao Cup last weekend after beating Notts County on penalties, although they were held to a 1-1 draw during normal time.
West Ham’s encouraging Turf Moor record
Turf Moor has been a relatively happy hunting ground for West Ham in recent years.
The Hammers are unbeaten across their previous four visits, winning three of them. That includes February’s 2-0 Premier League victory at Turf Moor.
Sunday’s game will be refereed by Josh Smith.
Nuno faces a difficult midfield decision
One of Nuno’s biggest decisions is whether to start new signing Manor Solomon on the left-hand side of midfield.
If he does, one of Mohamadou Kanté, Edson Álvarez or Lewis Orford will probably have to make way. All three impressed against Portsmouth in their own individual ways, although perhaps Orford was the biggest plus point.
The academy midfielder looks set to have an excellent season. His quality has been evident throughout pre-season, with Orford also impressing and scoring during the 5-0 win at Stevenage, and I’ve little doubt that his emergence was one of the reasons the club sanctioned the sale of Freddie Potts.
Given the choice, I wouldn’t drop any of the three midfielders. I would keep Kanté, Álvarez and Orford in the team and leave out Pablo Felipe.
However, I think Nuno is far too wedded to Pablo to even consider dropping him.
My predicted 4-4-2 formation is not necessarily the team I would select. It is the side I believe Nuno will choose.
This is particularly difficult to predict because it is a fresh season in a new division. We don’t yet know exactly how Nuno intends to approach the Championship or whether the Portsmouth game offered a genuine indication of his preferred team.
Gonzo’s predicted West Ham team
| Position | Player |
|---|---|
| GK | Mads Hermansen |
| RB | Kyle Walker-Peters |
| CB | Konstantinos Mavropanos |
| CB | Max Kilman |
| LB | Ollie Scarles |
| RM | Jarrod Bowen |
| CM | Mohamadou Kanté |
| CM | Edson Álvarez |
| LM | Manor Solomon |
| CF | Pablo Felipe |
| ST | Taty Castellanos |
Gonzo’s prediction
Whilst I would love to predict a West Ham win at Turf Moor, I can’t pretend that I’m not slightly nervous about this game.
I’m still worried about the composition of the squad and have concerns that we haven’t done enough transfer business. As the Premier League table showed last season, we weren’t that much better than Burnley, and we’ve since lost some key players.
I suspect how we handle their attack will be pivotal, and I’ve no doubt that we will score. The only question is whether we can stop them from doing so, which is, of course, Nuno’s speciality as a pragmatic and defensive coach.
That said, I predict a 1-1 draw but have very little evidence to back that up, given it is the first game of the season.
I suspect we will learn a lot.
Prediction: Burnley 1-1 West Ham United
Feel sorry for Orford, but with Engels coming as well, he’s going to be lucky to get much gametime going forward, so Nuno may well start here
We will get another forward by Sept 2nd, so there’s an argument for dropping Pablo now too, but as you say, Nuno doesn’t want to.
2 nil win for me
A West Ham win for me……. one or two nil