Forgotten big-money signing expected to start vs Liverpool: Predicted West Ham starting XI | OneFootball

West Ham United visit Liverpool in the third round of the League Cup looking to turn around the gloom that has rocked the club since the gutless 3-0 loss to Chelsea in the Premier League over the weekend.

The Hammers have lost three of their five Premier League matches this season (W1, D1). They look uninterested defensively and uninspiring in attack.

There are already calls for the club to pull the plug on new manager Julen Lopetegui following the abysmal start to his tenure in London, and only an unlikely win in Liverpool can improve things.

He will take confidence from the club’s last meeting with Liverpool, which ended in a 2-2 draw and ultimately destroyed Jurgen Klopp’s hopes of signing out with a title.

However, their current form and recent League Cup result against the Reds makes for grim reading. Liverpool mullered West Ham 5-1 when they met in December.

Liverpool have won nine of their last 11 meetings with West Ham (D1, L1), and have lost only of their six games this season under new manager Arne Slot.

Slot’s Liverpool are second in the league, a point behind table-toppers Manchester City. They have the best defensive record in the league, conceding just once after five games. They also have the third-best attack.

Lopetegui will hope his counterpart rings the changes, which could give West Ham a slight advantage. Without European football to worry about, Lopetegui can afford to keep most of his first-teamers in the line-up.

Crysencio Summerville, Mohammed Kudus, Lucas Paqueta and Jarrod Bowen are expected to start as the manager hopes to get a beat out of this talented squad.

It is also a chance for summer signing Jean-Clair Todibo to win the starting berth back from Konstantinos Mavropanos following his awful showing against Chelsea. The Frenchman has not appeared in almost a month.

Todibo did not cover himself in glory when he had the chance to play and has been forgotten on the bench but hopes to use tomorrow’s game to prove his mettle.

Other fringe stars such as Aaron Cresswell, Carlos Soler, Lukasz Fabianski and Vladimir Coufal could also get a chance.

West Ham Predicted Starting Line-up v Liverpool

(4-3-3): Lukasz Fabianski; Aaron Wan-Bissaka, Jean-Clair Todibo, Max Kilman, Emerson Palmieri; Carlos Soler, Lucas Paqueta, Edson Alvarez; Crysencio Summerville, Jarrod Bowen, Mohammed Kudus.