It’s an early kick off for West Ham today after a long trip to Burton Albion for the fourth round of the FA Cup which will serve as an interesting distraction from the rigours of the Premier League survival derby. The fourth round has the habit of throwing up surprises as top tier teams often field second eleven sides at their peril – and pay the consequences.
Momentum being important at this juncture Nuno will no doubt be hoping for a straightforward passage to the fifth round without drama or – worse- injury to any of his senior players. That, perhaps, has influenced his starting eleven selection as the Portuguese manager has made multiple changes for today’s fixture.
“Heavily rotated’ would seem the best way to describe Nuno’s West Ham side: The starting eleven has been published and with kick off in an hour’s time, this is how West Ham United will line up:
West Ham United
Areola, | Walker Peters, Mavropanos, Kilman, Mayers, | Scarles, Kante, Magassa, Lamadrid, | Traore, Wilson
Our predictions:
Sean 3-0 West Ham win
Gonzo 3- 0 West Ham win
Martin – (amended, seeing that line up) 1-0 West Ham win
Matt 2- 0 West Ham win
We’ll be back after the game with ‘Gonzo’s player ratings” and “Nuno-rated or slated” straight after the final whistle so check back and compare your opinions with ours. You’ll also have the chance to post comments live straight after the game.
Remember, no replays – had an hour of extra time and penalties will decide this tie today, and -joy of joy, there’ll be no VAR.
Incidentally, you may have noticed Adama Traore lining up for a second team in this year’s FA Cup competition: He started the last round for Fulham but a change in the rules has removed the ‘cup-tied’ restriction so, as this is round four, he is not ineligible!
Kilman poor again even at this level
we have some nice momentum at the moment so why on earth pick a starting 11 so mixed up.This will back fire unless he puts some of our top performers in.if we lose this with our 2nd team it makes no difference as we will still be hung out to dry by everybody saying West Ham lost to Burton.just do not understand the thought process here.
Sensible for me…Kilman has to have some game time and against this kind of opposition he has to show he can do something incase of emergencies in the prem campaign…La Madrid i am looking forward to see this man Sullivan plucked from nowhere and with Pablo now out injured it is sensible not to risk both remaining strikers at the same time…Time for players to step up and show that they deserve to wear the shirt.
Great this gives prospects a run out and saves senior legs.
Maybe a loss but coming away without injury is most important.
Next up is Bournemouth who are on winning streak.
Also gives whu a plan of action now Pablo is out for this year.
Hopefully when he comes back we’ll still be in premier league which should be priority.
FA cup may be brings in £ £ £ but is not beneficial in long term.
I take it we have our strongest bench seen in years, hopefully they don’t need to come on.
I still think we’ll win in 90 as Burton are a poor form team at the bottom of league one, but like Martin I’m changing to Burton 0-1 West Ham from the 0-2 I predicted earlier.
I’m looking forward to it.