By Kris Gonzo | Senior West Ham Columnist (Follow on X)
The great and the not so good of Claret & Hugh have put their collective minds together to try and predict the outcome of tonight’s EFL Cup fixture against Southampton.
And I have to say, it doesn’t look too clever for West Ham.
Nuno Espírito Santo is expected to put out a heavily rotated team against the Saints, with a number of Hammers youngsters expected to get their chance under the steadying and watchful eye of summer signing Joel Veltman.
As I mentioned in my Southampton v West Ham preview earlier today, this is almost an impossible team to predict given the amount of rotation expected.
But it would be fair to say that West Ham’s poor start to the Championship season has impacted optimism at Claret & Hugh HQ.
That’s despite the Hammers beating Portsmouth 3-1 in the first round of the Carabao Cup, which earned Nuno’s team tonight’s trip to St Mary’s.
C&H Writers Predict Southampton v West Ham
Matt Kemp has gone with a 2-0 Southampton win, while Martin has matched my own prediction from earlier today of a 2-1 defeat for the Hammers.
That leaves the ever-optimistic Sean Whetstone flying the flag for West Ham with a 1-0 victory for Nuno’s men.
So there you have it.
Matt: Southampton 2-0 West Ham
Martin: Southampton 2-1 West Ham
Gonzo: Southampton 2-1 West Ham
Sean: Southampton 0-1 West Ham
Please let us know your predictions in the comments section below and let’s see whether C&H readers are quite as pessimistic as the writers.
Here is a wild stab in the dark on the line-up based on todays whispers.
| Position | Player |
|---|---|
| GK | Mads Hermansen |
| RB | Joël Veltman |
| CB | Airidas Golambeckis |
| CB | Max Kilman |
| LB | Ezra Mayers |
| CM | Lewis Orford |
| CM | Divine Mukasa |
| CM | Arne Engels |
| RW | Jarrod Bowen |
| LW | Keiber Lamadrid |
| CF | Joël Piroe |
That’s the spirit ???
This is where the manager earns his money Gonzo If he can’t pull this around he should be gone
Nuno can’t afford another loss so he’ll rotate less than the spymaster at the Saints
1-nil to the Cockney boys
COYI
Who knows what either our or their team will be, against that background it’s impossible to predict and anything I say will be total guesswork.
I hope we win.
I’m not bothered about the carrier bag cup and it would be a blessing in disguise if we exit this pony competition tonight.However if kilman doesn’t play I think we will win 2-1.
If Kilman plays we’ll do we’ll to keep it down to 2 against
Southampton 0 West Ham1