West Ham are finally back playing European football.
The Hammers last played in the Europa League back in 2016 where they were dumped out at the qualification stages by Astra Giurgiu, but now they have the chance to play in the competition proper.
Their first match isn’t an easy one. They face Dinamo Zagreb, and while the Croatians aren’t favourites to win the competition, they will provide a real threat. After all, they did dump Tottenham Hotspur out of the Europa League last season.
While most sides take the Europa League as a chance to rotate, we expect West Ham to put out a strong XI here, and with that in mind, we’ve had a go at predicting their starting XI for this one.
We think that West Ham will go with arguably their strongest possible XI here.
Alphonse Areola gets a chance between the sticks after playing second fiddle to Lukasz Fabianski in recent weeks, while Kurt Zouma gets a start alongside Angelo Ogbonna at centre-half.
Declan Rice and Tomas Soucek start, but don’t be surprised if Mark Noble comes off the bench at some point to get a taste of Europa League football with the Hammers.
Nikola Vlasic starts against the Croatian outfit, while Pablo Fornals and Jarrod Bowen get the nod on the wings.
Up top, Michail Antonio retains his place after his red card at the weekend.
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