Having not won in the Premier League since the second weekend of the season, Saturday’s home clash against newly-promoted Ipswich Town is already huge.
Julen Lopetegui has found himself under immense pressure as West Ham manager already, despite having to navigate a tricky opening run of fixtures, including Aston Villa, Manchester City and Chelsea, as well as Liverpool away in the Carabao Cup.
But a string of poor performances, a lack of goals scored and way too many goals conceded means the Spaniard is under huge pressure to get his side back to winning ways.
If he can’t do that at home against Ipswich Town this weekend, then calls for his departure will only get louder.
It’s the final game before the international break as well, so going into that on the back of a much needed win will give the players some much needed confidence.
But how will Lopetegui approach this one? He said after last weekend’s draw with Brentford that he wanted to see more teamwork, and that he got that in the second half after the withdrawal of Mohammed Kudus, while he also hooked Lucas Paqueta in the second-half.
Many have since praised Lopetegui’s willingness to sacrifice his big name star players in the name of getting the squad playing better, especially if said players aren’t playing well or appear to be holding the team back. While that may have been the case against Brentford, I don’t expect either Kudus or Paqueta to be dropped for his one.
However, I wonder whether Lopetegui might tweak the way in which his attacking players line up. Kudus has made no secret of his preference to play in the No.10 role, while Paqueta has not been his usual self this season when playing behind the striker.
Perhaps this might prompt Lopetegui into swapping the two players and seeing whether that might get a tune out of both of then, with a win and a better attacking display so desperately required.
Whatsmore, Paqueta’s on and off field relationship with Emerson would make us especially dangerous down the left hand side.
There isn’t much else I would change for this one, other than I’d like to see Tomas Soucek alongside Edson Alvarez in midfield, with Guido Rodriguez dropped to the bench after a run of very disappointing performances, especially when out of possession.
Up front I think it’s likely we’ll see Michail Antonio leading the line (again!), with Danny Ings preferred off the bench. Some might like to see it the other way around, as we all know how good Antonio can be when introduced late on in games, but I just don’t see Lopetegui choosing Ings over him from the start.
So, here’s how I predict West Ham will line-up against Ipswich on Saturday afternoon…
What do you think? Would you be happy with this starting XI against Ipswich?