West Ham are expected to make wholesale changes for the 100th Dockers Derby on Saturday lunchtime.
This is a game the Hammers simply have to win, not necessarily for our promotion chances, but for pride. This is the first time we’ve played Millwall in 14 years.
The last time we played against them, we were victorious 2-1 under Sam Allardyce thanks to Carlton Cole and Winston Reid; let’s hope Nuno Espírito Santo can get us a similar result. To have a chance of that, he needs to get the team spot on.
Predicted starting XI: Hermansen; Veltman, Mavropanos, Kilman, Morato; Bowen, Engels, Mukasa, Solomon, Pablo, Taty.
I think the back five and goalkeeper explain themselves. Hermansen obviously comes in for Herrick, Mavropanos and Kilman keep their spots in central defence. Morato stays in over Ollie Scarles due to good performances; KWP and Veltman have been rotating. The former started vs Fulham, so it’s expected that Veltman starts on Saturday.
The midfield four also picks itself. Bowen and Solomon will obviously start wide. Engels and Mukasa have been brilliant as a partnership in recent games. Unless Soucek is fit enough to start, which is very unlikely, Orford’s poor performance vs Fulham and Kanté being better in an advanced role, it has to be Engels and Mukasa.
The front two is quite tricky to guess. Both Taty Castellanos and Piroe were rested from the start midweek vs Fulham, so it would make sense to start both of them. However, I think Nuno will want Pablo’s hard work in this game, so I can see him going with the Brazilian up front alongside Taty.
Nuno has made some surprise changes to his elevens recently, so we might get that on Saturday, but I can’t see it.
The only questions are who plays right-back and who plays up front alongside Taty. Whoever starts, though, we should have enough to beat Millwall as long as the occasion doesn’t get to us.
