Tonight, West Ham United host an ambitious Silkeborg outfit who find themselves second in Group B of the Europa Conference League, after some strikingly threatening goalscoring exploits.
The Danish Superliga side are the highest scorers of the group, having found the net on 12 occasions.
Though, it is worth noting that 10 of these goals came against Romanian side FCSB, so make of that what you will.
Either way, the side have shown their threat, competing against the Hammers in a game that went down to the wire in the 3-2 reverse fixture last month.
And boss David Moyes is not taking the side lightly, having said this, via football.london, in Wednesday’s pre-match press conference: “If anybody thinks in any way we are taking this any differently or think anything differently, no, we’re not because we see them as a really good side.“
The 59-year-old is looking to top the group to make for a, hopefully, easier matchup in the first round of the knockout stages: “We’ve got 12 points in the group and we’d hope that would certainly be enough to see us win the group and it’s not. We hope that we can pick up more points and see ourselves top the group.”
West Ham Injury News
The likes of Maxwel Cornet, Craig Dawson and Lucas Paqueta are the names that have been flagged ahead of this fixture.
Speaking to the media, as per football.london, Moyes said: “Cornet has had a small setback in training so Cornet is not available and I don’t know if it’s another week or another couple of weeks but it’s another setback for Cornet.
“Daws is improving but is not fit for the game, not fit at the moment. Paqueta is not available because of his collarbone to make it simple. But, hopefully, they are not too far away.”
West Ham Predicted XI v Silkeborg
This brings us to our predicted line-up for tonight’s group-defining clash.
The Hammers found it tough against Kent Nielsen’s side last time out in a 4-3-1-2 formation.
This time, we expect Moyes to stick to his guns and set the side up in his favoured 4-2-3-1 system which will make for six changes from the side that beat Bournemouth last time out.
4-2-3-1:
Areola;
Coufal, Kehrer, Ogbonna, Emerson;
Downes, Rice;
Bowen, Lanzini, Benrahma;
Antonio
Our predicted line-up sees Lukasz Fabianski drop out for Alphonse Areola in the usual cup competition change.
Ben Johnson drops out for Vladimir Coufal, who played just two minutes of the previous game.
Kurt Zouma makes way for fit-again Angelo Ogbonna, who was on the bench last time out.
Aaron Cresswell will get a rest after playing three consecutive 90-minute games, with summer signing Emerson expected to take his place.
Manuel Lanzini will finally get some action after failing to play a single minute in the Hammers’ previous two games, coming in for Tomas Soucek who will be rested for Sunday’s game against Manchester United.
Whilst the sixth and final anticipated change on the night will make for the omission of Gianluca Scamacca, with Michail Antonio expected to be trusted once more.
