Manuel Pellegrini is certainly a manager who likes to keep his squad on their toes and is never shy of shaking things up in terms of team selection. With Everton visiting the London Stadium this evening Hammers fans will be hoping that they can push up to seventh place as results elsewhere (defeats for both Wolves and Watford) have created an opening for West Ham to grab their highest position of the season - its a long time since their abysmal opening 5 games!
However, with both Felipe Anderson and Samir Nasri unavailable, the Hammers really need Marko Arnautovic to rediscover the form that prompted all the interest over the January window. In truth, the Austrian has not looked the same player since signing a new contract and all the publicity seems to have affected his confidence as he has lacked his usual swagger.
With Manuel Lanzini slowly regaining match fitness, and Robert Snodgrass adding invention to the midfield, the Hammers will hope that will bring enough invention to open up the Everton defence. Pedro Obiang and Lucas Perez get rare opportunities to impress from the start.
With Diangana, Antonio and Hernandez on the bench, Pellegrini has options if things are not going the Hammers way, while Captain Claret is available to come on and shore things up if West Ham get ahead.
West Ham: Fabianski, Zabaleta, Ogbonna, Diop, Cresswell, Rice, Obiang, Lanzini, Snodgrass, Perez, Arnautovic
Subs: Adrian, Masuaku, Balbuena, Noble, Diangana, Antonio, Hernandez,
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