West Ham United are the next club to come into focus in our 2023/24 Fantasy Premier League (FPL) team previews.
From our selection of the best players for the upcoming season to a predicted line-up for Gameweek 1, we’ll dissect David Moyes’ side in detail.
You can read our stats-driven review of West Ham’s 2022/23 campaign here.
Data in this article comes from our Premium Members Area, which you can access with a discounted pre-season subscription.
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WEST HAM: REASONS TO BE CHEERFUL
In Lucas Paqueta (£6.0m) and Jarrod Bowen (£7.0m), West Ham have two players with real quality.
Both will need to step up in the absence of captain Declan Rice (£5.5m), but they finished last season in fine form, helping the Hammers win the UEFA Conference League.
Paqueta is the one who should help the team in midfield after the loss of Rice, while Bowen is a goalscorer and creator who always gives his team a chance.
If West Ham can become a bit more clinical in front of goal, they should be fine, too: they created 50.74 expected goals (xG) in 2022/23, the ninth-best tally in the division, but found the net just 42 times.
WEST HAM: REASONS TO BE FEARFUL
West Ham flirted with relegation last season and the squad is currently weaker, having lost their influential captain to Arsenal.
That’s because the east London club are the only Premier League side not to have made a senior signing in this summer’s transfer window, with David Moyes and new technical director Tim Steidten failing to agree on the profile of transfer targets being pursued.
If West Ham don’t start well, Moyes will be under real pressure, and they’ll have to navigate another European campaign, too, further stretching the squad.
SUMMER TRANSFER ACTIVITY
The likes of Harry Maguire (£4.5m), Scott McTominay (£5.0m) and James Ward-Prowse have all been linked, but at the time of writing, nobody has actually arrived at West Ham.
The club are at least in advanced talks with Ajax over Mexico midfielder Edson Alvarez.
Rice, Manuel Lanzini, Arthur Masuaku and Gianluca Scamacca have all left the club, however.
PRE-SEASON REPORT
Well, it’s certainly been eventful.
West Ham started their pre-season strongly, with wins over Boreham Wood, Perth Glory and Tottenham Hotspur.
Bowen was on fire and youngster Divin Mubama (£4.5m) was busy making a strong argument that he is ready for first-team football, but progress has since stalled.
The Hammers lost 3-1 to Stade Rennais at the end of July and suffered a heavy to defeat to Xabi Alonso’s Bayer Leverkusen at the weekend, in a poor performance that promoted a half-time system change, as they switched to a back-three formation.
OPENING FIXTURES
The initial outlook doesn’t look great for West Ham.
After their opening day clash with Bournemouth, the Hammers meet Mauricio Pochettino’s Chelsea in a London derby, before facing three of last season’s top six in the next four rounds.
From Gameweeks 10-17, West Ham sit top of the ticker, which might be a better time to look at their assets.
PREDICTED GAMEWEEK 1 LINE-UP
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