Hammers boss David Moyes simply must read a claim made on a German site before picking his West Ham team for Bayer Leverkusen.
We are now just over 24 hours out from West Ham’s huge Europa League quarter-final first leg against Bayer Leverkusen.
The Hammers were made big underdogs from the outset after the draw.
That’s not unreasonable given Bayer Leverkusen are unbeaten all season and are about to lift their first ever Bundesliga title.
But West Ham deserve respect as a top seven Premier League outfit who added a third European trophy to their cabinet just last summer.
Underdogs yes but don’t underestimate West Ham
Especially with the attacking talent we have at our disposal which can win any game, at any time against any opposition.
German football expert Kevin Hatchard told Hammers News that West Ham can burst the Bayer bubble.
He makes the tie 60-40 in Bayer’s favour.
Hatchard also warned David Moyes that simply sitting off in a low block and defending is usually futile.
This promises to be a tie decided on fine margins.
So West Ham must look to glean any slight advantage they can.
Therefore knowing the team West Ham are likely to face 24 hours out from the game could come in really handy couldn’t it?
Moyes must read German site’s team claim before picking his side
Well Xabi Alonso has already rather boldly – some would say arrogantly – made a bold statement about the game.
Now Moyes must read a German site’s claim before picking his West Ham team for Bayer Leverkusen.
The manager has big decisions to make on how to set his side up for the away leg.
With Jarrod Bowen likely to be out and Edson Alvarez suspended, the team is considerably weakened.
So before settling on how he is going to play it, perhaps the boss out to check out the team BuliNews says it believes will start against West Ham.
Alonso has already confirmed rookie goalkeeper Matej Kovar will start against West Ham as he rotates his ‘keepers like Moyes. Just as we told you would be the case earlier this week.
Alonso also hinted striker Victor Boniface may start the game.
How Leverkusen are expected to line up against the Hammers
But BuliNews believes this will be how Bayer line up to face West Ham on Thursday night in their usual 3-4-2-1 wingback formation.
Kovar, Tapsoba, Tah, Hincapie – Frimpong, Xhaka, Andrich, Grimaldo – Wirtz, Adli – Schick.
The big decision facing Moyes is whether to change his shape.
A switch to wingbacks helped West Ham turn the game around against Wolves.
It gave the Hammers more control higher up the pitch and allowed the likes of Lucas Paqueta and Mohammed Kudus to play in their preferred positions too.
That would also help mitigate the impact of being without Bowen.
West Ham must hope they can stay in the tie and then make home advantage count next week when they will have Alvarez back and with any luck Bowen too.