Gameweek 1 of Fantasy Premier League (FPL) is drawing ever nearer and we’re profiling all 20 Premier League teams before the season starts.
We continue our team-by-team guides with West Ham United, seeing what their players have to offer.
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LAST SEASON: ATTACK
| Total | Rank v other Premier League clubs | |
| Goals scored | 60 | 7th |
| Shots | 449 | =11th |
| Shots in the box | 306 | 8th |
| Shots on target | 148 | 10th |
| Big chances | 74 | 6th |
| Expected goals (xG) | 59.09 | 7th |
It was a second successive finish inside the top seven for West Ham United, this time with a wonderful European journey included. They defeated the likes of Sevilla and Lyon on the way to the Europa League semi-final, before being eliminated by eventual winners Eintracht Frankfurt.
If it wasn’t for a late blip in domestic action – winning one of their final seven outings – the Hammers would get another shot at it, instead of the Europa Conference League.
Their FPL season was entertaining too. The early form of Michail Antonio (£7.5m) and Said Benrahma (£6.0m) saw both their prices shoot up by at least £0.5m during the opening weeks.
Forward Antonio began with three double-digit hauls thanks to four goals and four assists, whilst midfielder Benrahma bagged one of each in both of the first two.
Once things quietened down for the duo, in stepped Jarrod Bowen (£8.5m). His trickle of early attacking returns went up several gears after Gameweek 19. Suddenly, five goals and six assists arrived in just eight appearances, averaging nine points per match.
With such a low price of £6.5m, Bowen’s ownership escalated and he ended the season as one of only five players to exceed 200 FPL points.
LAST SEASON: DEFENCE
| Total | Rank v other Premier League clubs | |
| Goals conceded | 51 | 9th |
| Clean sheets | 8 | =12th |
| Shots conceded | 545 | 15th |
| Shots in the box conceded | 349 | 15th |
| Shots on target conceded | 165 | =9th |
| Big chances conceded | 56 | 6th |
| Expected goals conceded (xGC) | 58.83 | 10th |
David Moyes mostly used a four-man defence, although wing-back systems were occasionally tried.
Strangely, the Hammers ranked as one of the league’s worst for allowing shots, yet one of the best for conceding big chances. It was one of the reasons why Lukasz Fabianski (£5.0m) finished as high as he did for FPL points (fifth among goalkeepers), with easy save points arriving from those low-percentage shots.
Their defenders were of little FPL interest due to a lack of clean sheets – only four sides collecting fewer. Yet they did provide 21 attacking returns, with six from Aaron Cresswell (£5.0m) and five from Craig Dawson (£5.0m).
What didn’t help was that they were the only two West Ham defenders to start over 25 league games. Heading into 2022/23, the £30m summer signing Nayef Aguerd (£5.0m) comes highly rated but has already had to undergo ankle surgery
OPENING FIXTURES
Once the opening day clash with Manchester City passes, our Season Ticker says that West Ham have the second-best fixture run between Gameweeks 2 and 11. And even the equivalent May hosting of City ended in a 2-2 draw.
Although they coped well with last season’s congested schedule, it’s worth mentioning that qualifying for the Europa Conference League group stage would bring another long period of midweek matches.
From Gameweek 2 until players are released for the World Cup in November, each midweek would have either a league, Europa Conference League or EFL Cup match. There is also an international break.
PREDICTED GAMEWEEK 1 LINE-UP
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