West Ham United will look to avoid losing three games in a row when they travel to the King Power Stadium to face Leicester City this weekend. The Hammers are on a two-game losing streak, both being narrow 1-0 losses, and tasting yet another defeat could once again put some pressure on Manuel Pellegrini.
West Ham will miss out on the services of a host of prominent players this weekend with Winston Reid, Jack Wilshere, Manuel Lanzini, Andy Carroll, and Carlos Sanchez all facing a spell on the sidelines.
The most recent blow was the injury Andriy Yarmolenko picked up. He has been ruled out for six months after picking up an Achilles injury against Tottenham last weekend while Pedro Obiang is also likely to miss out due to his calf strain.
Defence
Lukasz Fabianski will start in between the sticks for the Hammers this weekend as he searches for his second clean sheet of the season.
It is unlikely Pellegrini will rotate his centre-half pairing of Issa Diop and Fabian Balbuena. Balbuena has made the second most number of interceptions in the league this season and his excellent positional sense will be important as West Ham look to keep out a dangerous Leicester City attack.
Aaron Cresswell, on the other hand, could be relegated to the bench after a disastrous performance against Tottenham. In his place, Arthur Masuaku could return to his preferred left-back position with Pablo Zabaleta starting on the opposite flank.
Midfield
With so many players out injured, Pellegrini has limited resources. The Chilean is likely to switch to a 4-2-3-1 formation to accommodate both Declan Rice and Mark Noble at the base of the formation while Robert Snodgrass could feature as a number 10 or attacking midfielder.
Snodgrass produced a promising display in the defeat to Tottenham during the weekend, and it’ll be interesting to see how he performs against a disciplined Leicester City defence on Saturday.
Attack
The absence of Andriy Yarmolenko might force Pellegrini to shift Marko Arnautovic into a wider position. As a result, Javier Hernandez could lead the line for the Hammers this weekend with Arnautovic and Felipe Anderson occupying the wider roles.
Anderson will be looking to redeem himself after being arguably the most ineffective attacker during the defeat to Tottenham.
Stat courtesy: Whoscored
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