Predicted: Julen Lopetegui makes five West Ham changes for Celta Vigo with more on the way. West Ham welcome Julen Lopetegui’s compatriots Celta Vigo to the London Stadium in their final pre-season friendly on Saturday afternoon.
After defeats to Wolves and Palace in the last two weeks, Hammers News stated the performances had piled the pressure on West Ham technical director Tim Steidten to make signings.
And my how he responded.
Crysencio Summerville, Niclas Fullkrug, Guido Rodriguez and – to be announced imminently – Jean-Clair Todibo have all arrived at the London Stadium.
That is to add to West Ham’s acquisitions of Luis Guilherme, Wes Foderingham and Max Kilman. The Hammers aren’t done there either with Aaron Wan-Bissaka finally closing in on a move to West Ham.
Julen Lopetegui inherited the Premier League’s smallest and second oldest squad from David Moyes. Now it is bursting with quality and depth.That comes with its own problems for the head boss of course.
Selecting a starting XI from the new-look West Ham squad will not be easy. Nice selection headaches on horizon for West Ham. Although it does look likely many of the old guard will now transition to back-up players.
That is a natural result of pushing for progress at an ambitious club. And West Ham are certainly showing plenty of ambition.
Lopetegui has been making it clear his team has a lot of work to do in order to be ready for the new Premier League season. The Hammers will clearly be a work in progress at the start of the campaign with so many new signings.
Not to mention playing a new style and philosophy under a new manager. So how will the Hammers approach their final warm-up match of pre-season? We predict Lopetegui makes five West Ham changes for Celta Vigo with more on the way.
Lopetegui makes five West Ham changes for Celta Vigo
Alphonse Areola will replace Lukasz Fabianski in goal in change number one. Vladimir Coufal, Max Kilman and Konstantinos Mavropanos will keep their places. Although Coufal and Mavropanos will be replaced by Todibo and – should he sign – Wan-Bissaka in the coming weeks.
Emerson Palmieri will also stay in the side as left-back from the team which started against Palace. Change number two will see Aaron Cresswell drop out for Luis Guilherme, who will play on the left.
Jarrod Bowen will come in Freddie Potts on the right while Lucas Paqueta will start in place of Tomas Soucek in changes three and four. We think Niclas Fullkrug will start in place of Michail Antonio in the fifth and final change from the side which started against Palace.
Fullkrug has been in full training with Dortmund prior to joining West Ham and had been in action for Germany over the summer so building up fitness will not be an issue. Rodriguez may also start in place of James Ward-Prowse for a sixth change.
But for balance when he makes a raft of changes, Lopetegui may decide to introduce the Argentine midfielder along with Crysencio Summerville as second half substitutes. Predicted West Ham starting XI to face Celta Vigo:
Areola, Coufal, Mavropanos, Kilman, Emerson, Ward-Prowse, Paqueta, Kudus, Bowen, Guilherme, Fullkrug.
When the season starts proper, and presuming West Ham go on to complete the deals for Todibo and Wan-Bissaka, West Ham fans can expect more changes in the pipeline. The Hammers starting XI with everyone fully fit presents several nice problems for Lopetegui.
And the first choice West Ham starting XI could look more like this: Areola, Wan-Bissaka, Todibo, Kilman, Emerson, Rodriguez or Alvarez, Paqueta, Kudus, Summerville, Bowen, Fullkrug.
