West Ham United’s trip to Millwall seems a pretty easy one to call – as far as the starting XI goes, anyway. Whilst everyone – almost – hopes for events on the pitch to create the headlines, the mainstream media do seem, sadly, to have found no bottom to their almost endless stories of the less attractive aspects of the spicy London derby from days gone by on which to focus.
Predicting Nuno’s starting line up and scores today shows four Claret and Hugh writers all sharing un-nerving optimism over a Hammers win.
The starting line – up, too, has probably only one tricky call, whether Nuno keeps his bearded wonder alongside Taty up front or starts with Joel Piroe instead of the now-bubbling Pablo.
Pablo likely to get the start instead of Joel Piroe
The strength of West Ham’s bench is likely to be crucial: Being able to call on Kanté, Orford, Piroe and Austbø in the second half is sure to tip the scales towards Nuno’s side if the game is still close by the hour mark.
Our best guess for the starting line up against Millwall is:
Hermansen | Walker Peters, Mavropanos, Kilman, Morato | Bowen, Engels, Mukasa, Solomon | Taty, Pablo
Score predictions
Gonzo 1-3 West Ham away win
Martin 1-3 West Ham away win (after going behind, of course)
Sean 0-3 West Ham away win
Matt 1-2 West Ham away win
We’ll be back with Nuno’s published starting line up at 11.30 today along with Gonzo’s ‘player ratings’ and my ‘first impressions’ straight after the final whistle so check back later…
Come.On.You.Irons!
Thankfully no Pablo. But still concerned we are short in midfield. The players we have in midfield are all playing really well but personally I think we are too open and would prefer to see a defensive midfielder such as Alvarez or Soucek. Hope I am wrong
Completely mad if you think Pablo is a better player for this game or any game than Piroe . Pablo was awful once again against Fulham,he couldn’t tackle without falling over,didn’t link up or help Ajala poor passing and didn’t create anything apart from,I’ll give him that, a neat finish. Piroe’s link up play against Wrexham was outstanding,his finishing has been much better and allround game much more suited to the team.
Two goal margin I think so I’ll run with Martin and Gonzo 3-1.
We have the extra quality that will tell.
Of the outfield players in your predicted line up, I think only KWP and Engles haven’t scored yet. That’s quite an achievement so early in the season