West Ham United will play their fourth pre-season friendly against Fulham on Saturday and will look to get some momentum going having lost their last two friendly games against Manchester City and Newcastle United. The Hammers have three more friendly games before their first match of the Premier League season against Manchester City on August 10. Hertha Berlin and Atheltic Bilbao will be the next two friendlies following their game against Fulham.
The Hammers have so far made two big signings – Sébastien Haller from Eintracht Frankfurt, and Pablo Fornals from Villarreal, both of whom could appear in West Ham colours for the first time against Fulham.
PREDICTED WEST HAM UNITED LINEUP vs FULHAM (4-1-4-1)
Goalkeeper
Lukasz Fabianski is West Ham’s No. 1 keeper and he will most likely start for the Hammers against Fulham, while there is a possibility of new signing Roberto also getting a start.
Defence
The Hammers will be buoyed by the return of central defender Winston Reid, who missed the entire 2018-19 season due to injury. He could start for the London club against Fulham once again, and he could be joined by Issa Diop in defence, who missed the last pre-season game because of a slight injury. Fabián Balbuena returned to the club only this past week after playing for Paraguay in Copa America and he may be on the bench for the game against Fulham.
Arthur Masuaku also returned after playing for Congo in the African Cup of Nations, and he too may be on the bench for the game against Fulham, with Aaron Cresswell at left-back, and Ryan Fredericks at right-back.
Midfield
Declan Rice will start at the base of midfield, with two of Mark Noble, Manuel Lanzini, or Carlos Sanchez ahead of him. Noble and Lanzini could start the game, with new signing Pablo Fornals on the bench and coming on in the second half.
We could see Felipe Anderson continue on the left while manager Manuel Pellegrini could give an opportunity to Michail Antonio on the right after the Englishman was on the bench in the last game against Newcastle United.
Attack
New signing Sebastien Haller could get his debut for West Ham, playing up top, replacing Javier Hernandez.
