Preseason ends today with a friendly encounter at London Stadium in the hastily renamed Boyle Sports Cup: Whilst appearing to be sold out West Ham have, in fact limited ticket sales to their lower tier in an attempt to create a better atmosphere for the traditional season curtain-raiser arranged against top six Seria A (oops – MT Ligue 1) side OSC Lille.
The home fans will get their first sighting of new signings El Hadji Malick Diouf likely from the get-go: The Senegalese left sided wing-back has looked every inch a Premier League player during the USA tour and already has two assists to his name.
Bosman rule utility defender Kyle Walker-Peters could also make a home debut as a West Ham player having looked good in the third of the summer series games with standout defining against Bournemouth helping the Hammers keep a clean sheet. 70 minute mark substitute for Diouff or Wan Bissaka, most likely.
Another signing, the more controversial Callum Wilson is likely to be on the bench for the first time waiting until Niclas Fullkrug’s rechargeable batteries conk out around 70 minutes. West Ham fans will get their first glimpse of Wilson as a Hammer and it will be interesting to see how he is greeted.
A positive contribution from the former Magpies frontman will most likely be all it takes for West Ham’s critical but fair ‘friendly’ home crowd to take to him.
Probably.
We’ll have the line up as soon as it is announced plus post-game player ratings and reports for those of you who don’t want to fork out a fiver to watch the game on WHUTV.com. If you do watch the game or attend then check back later and see how your thoughts on player performances compare with ours.
It’s £5 to watch but free for season ticket holders
Serie A??????
Oops, early start this morning. at least you know it is never AI created at C and H..lol