West Ham face Newcastle United in the north east on Sunday afternoon looking to distance themselves further from the relegation race after results once again went in their favour on Saturday.
Bournemouth, Norwich and Watford all lost to continue their respective poor form and Aston Villa face Liverpool on Sunday, the Reds smarting from being beaten 4-0 by Man City in their first game back since being crowned Premier League champions.
A win at St James’ Park won’t take West Ham any higher in the table as they sit six points behind Brighton with a game in hand but depending on how Aston Villa fare, David Moyes’ side could go six points clear of the drop zone.
The Hammers will be in buoyant mood having turned over Chelsea 3-2 in midweek to secure just their third win of 2020, Andriy Yarmolenko lashed home an 89th minute winner as the Hammers secured a league double over Frank Lampard’s side.
Newcastle though are in good form, unbeaten in the Premier League since the restart and come into the game off the back of a thumping 4-1 win away at Bournemouth last time out. They have some injury doubts though, with Jamaal Lascelles, Sean Longstaff and striker Joelinton struggling to be fit for the game.
For the Hammers, they too have some injury issues over Sebastien Haller, Felipe Anderson, Mark Noble and Arthur Masuaku while Robert Snodgrass is certainly out of the game.
With all that in mind, here is the team that we have picked and think Moyes might go with.
As you can see, we have named an unchanged lineup for the Hammers’ trip to the north east. Yarmolenko certainly pressed his claims for a start when scoring the winner but Moyes, when he has won games, has tended not to change things for the game after if he doesn’t have to.
The temptation could be there to bring Mark Noble back in, if he is fit but that’s a doubt, but judging by the performance on Wednesday is Noble even guaranteed a start anymore? Declan Rice led superbly as captain, Tomas Soucek was impressive against Chelsea and Manuel Lanzini did alright in midfield in one of his better outings of the season.
Up front, Michail Antonio worked his socks off and might be given a rest by Moyes with a run of four games in ten days coming up, Sebastien Haller’s fitness could determine when Moyes decides to give Antonio a rest.
Angelo Ogbonna’s return to the back four was massive for West Ham and he should keep his place alongside Issa Diop and be joined in the back four by Ryan Fredericks and Aaron Cresswell on the flanks.
It’s only been four days since the Hammers last played so the manager will certainly be tempted to rotate his team considering the run of matches they have coming up which could define their season.
However, we think that the manager will resist that for now and potentially look to rotate for the visit of Burnley to east London in midweek.
