David Moyes will have an almost full complement of players to choose from when he picks his starting eleven for the first game of the Premier League season on Saturday.
The Hammers face Newcastle in an evening showdown in E20 to get the campaign underway and for 90 minutes at least will detract from the latest bout of nonsense that is happening off the pitch.
West Ham are still chasing Burnley defender James Tarkwoski’s signature and Moyes also wants to bring in a left back before the end of the transfer window.
But, back on the pitch, Moyes will not be worrying about new faces as he picks his first starting eleven of the season which is highly likely to be very similar to ones he was picking towards the back end of the last campaign.
With no new faces to arrive yet, the only team in the Premier League yet to make a new signing, the manager will head into the first match of the campaign with the same squad to choose from as the last.
So how might he send his team out at London Stadium on Saturday? Here is what we think.
The manager has a big call to make a centre back owing to Issa Diop having only featured once in pre-season and that outing against Bournemouth was horrendous to say the least. Diop has regressed badly since his debut campaign in east London and could be replaced by Fabian Balbuena, who has more minutes under his belt this summer.
The other decision the manager will have to make involves Tomas Soucek, who didn’t play against Bournemouth olwing to international duty. While away, the midfielder was placed in isolation after coming into contact with a masseuse who tested positive for Covid-19.
Soucek has tested negative for the virus three times so is available for the game b ut is lacking in fitness compared to his teammates having been forced to miss the two international break fixtures.
Sebastien Haller has been scoring goals in pre-season but we think Moyes will persist with Michail Antonio up front after his stunning end to last season in a front three with Jarrod Bowen and Pablo Fornals.
Declan Rice and Mark Noble should patrol the midfield with Soucek, while Hammer of the Year runner up Angelo Ogbonna partners Balbuena in our team. Ben Johnson continues to keep out Ryan Fredericks at right back though the youngster had a bit of a stinker in the final pre-season friendly against Bournemouth so it's not a cut and dry decision for Moyes.
Aaron Cresswell retains his place on the left as Moyes searches for a new face in that position. Lukasz Fabianski is the number one for the season once again so he retains his place in goal ahead of Darren Randolph.
