After four straight defeats in all competitions, the Hammers are in need of a win – badly.
An opportunity presents itself to Slaven Bilic and Co. tonight as they welcome a buoyant Accrington Stanley side to the London Stadium tonight for an EFL Cup third round fixture to go out and make a statement that they’ve turned a corner.
As for who’s available and who’s not, Winston Reid will miss out again after missing last week’s 4-2 defeat to West Brom through injury. His return is unknown.
Andre Ayew and Aaron Cresswell are both still sidelined with long-term injuries while both are making good progress, with Andy Carroll also nearing a return but is not available tonight.
Could see Alvaro Arbeloa make his debut tonight. dg
— David Gold (@davidgold) September 21, 2016
David Gold took to Twitter this morning and claimed that we could see a debut for Alvaro Arbeloa who has been working on hit fitness after spending the whole summer unemployed following his release from Real Madrid.
£5.5m signing from FC Sion Edimilson Fernandes is also in-line for a first-team debut tonight after being omitted from the U23 squad who beat Norwich on Monday.
Darren Randolph is expected to come in for Adrian and take his place as the cup ‘keeper, but a strong performance could see him force his way into the first-team if West Ham continue to ship goals.
Provisional squad: Adrian, Randolph, Arbeloa, Byram, Masuaku, Collins, Ogbonna, Oxford, Kouyate, Nordtveit, Obiang, Fernandes, Noble, Payet, Lanzini, Antonio, Feghouli, Tore, Quina, Zaza, Fletcher, Calleri.
With that in mind, here’s a final look at our predicted XI and bench for West Ham tonight as they look to secure their first win in five games in all competitions.
