The David Moyes era at the London Stadium has ended. Despite European success in the Europa Conference League and a ninth place position in the Premier League last season, it was seen as time for a fresh start in an attempt to play more progressive football.

The man chosen to implement that plan is Julen Lopetegui. The former Spain and Real Madrid manager has an impressive resumé and took Wolves to a 13th-place finish before leaving due to differing opinions on spending.

It’s not been the best start for the Spaniard, an opening day defeat to Aston Villa was followed by a win against Crystal Palace which showed signs of promise.

However, losses to Manchester City and Chelsea and draws with Fulham and Brentford leaves the Hammers in the lower half of the table. They also exited the Carabao Cup in the last round following a 5-1 defeat to Liverpool.

They’re yet to pick up a point at home so if Town can get an early goal in this one it could really quieten the crowd.

Goalkeepers

I have the honour of sharing the same tennis club as West Ham number one Alphonse Areola and he’s quite good at that too. He’s firmly shaken off the challenge of number two Lucas Fabianski in recent times to fully claim his starting berth having had to be patient when he first joined the club from Fulham back in 2021.

He made 138 saves last year, including two penalties but was still only able to keep four clean sheets for his side which shows how leaky West Ham have been defensively.

Fabianski is now 39 years old and provides a solid back-up, making four saves, two punches and one claim in the Caraboa Cup against Bournemouth to show that he’s still got it.

Wes Foderingham is also waiting in the wings as third choice following a tough season with Sheffield United last year.

Defenders

To deal with their defensive frailties from last season, the Hammers have invested in three new defenders. Aaron Wan-Bissaka and Max Kilman come in from Manchester United and Wolves respectively and both have slotted in seamlessly.

Wan-Bissaka was considered one of England’s best right-back prospects when he was at Crystal Palace, excelling in one-v-one defending. He made 190 appearances for United but was hampered with a number of injury issues. If West Ham can keep him fit they’ll have signed a quality player.

Kilman is another excellent signing albeit at a fairly hefty cost of £40 million. He’s 27 years old, so coming into his peak as a defender and has proven his Premier League quality in his last four seasons with Wolves, where he worked with manager Lopetegui. He was captain of the Molineux side last season but they looked to cash in with his contract expiring.

The other defensive signing is Jean Claire Todibo, who came in from one of Town’s pre-season opponents OGC Nice on loan, which means I'm going to be lazy and copy paste my write up of him for that preview.

“With an older defender it’s important to have pace alongside them and Nice have that balance with Jean-Clair Todibo.

“The 24-year-old was signed by Barcelona as a youngster but never made the breakthrough there only making five appearances for the Spanish side.

“While he was there, he spent time on loan at Schalke and Benfica before finding a home in Nice. Whenever a Premier League side is looking for a ball playing centre-back Todibo’s name is commonly linked. He ranked ninth in Ligue 1 for progressive passes and was second behind team mate Dante for total passes with 2,247.”

The Frenchman made his Premier League debut against Brentford last time out, replacing Konstantinos Mavrapanos, who had possessed the right centre-back spot until then.

Mavrapanos originally made the move to the Premier League at Arsenal but only made eight appearances for the Gunners having struggled with groin issues. He was sold to Stuttgart before making the move to East London in 2023 and proved his worth last season earning a starting berth towards the end of the 2023/24 season.

At left-back, Emerson Palmieri is the man in possession of the shirt. The 30-year-old first graced the Premier League with Chelsea but never really claimed his place but things have gone much better with the Hammers. Last season was his best to date as he made 47 appearances in all competitions as the attacking outlet down the left-hand side.

Also in that defensive unit are 32-year-old Vladimir Coufal and former Town left-back Aaron Cresswell, who is now 34. They’re both experienced back-up but probably won’t see too much game time this season.

Midfielders

West Ham turned to Mexican Edson Alvarez to fill the Declan Rice shaped hole in their midfield last season and have now added another option in that area with the free signing of Guido Rodriguez from Real Betis.

Rodriguez was chosen as the single holding midfielder against Aston Villa and Crystal Palace but Alvarez was brought in alongside him to provide more stability against Manchester City and continued there against Fulham.

Against Brentford it was a switch back to Rodriguez on his own as Alvarez was serving suspension having been sent off against Liverpool in the Carabao Cup.

With a double helping of South American grit in defensive midfield, Tomas Soucek was pushed forward into the number ten role against Fulham but that experiment only lasted 45 minutes with Lucas Paqueta replacing him. Prior to that the two had played together in front of a single pivot to try and take advantage of Soucek’s box-crashing abilities.

Despite being listed as a defensive midfielder the Czech has 33 goals in 212 West Ham appearances and was back in that more advanced role against Brentford.

Paqueta is very much West Ham’s creative influence in midfield. He finished last season with four goals and six assists and is not only firmly a part of the West Ham side he has also cemented a place in the Brazil national team in recent times having an excellent Copa America over the summer.

Carlos Soler is the other player who could fill that role having joined on loan from PSG. He was a bit part player for the Ligue 1 champions last season with only 12 starts but does have 12 Spain caps and was part of a very good Valencia side for a long period of time.

He made his debut against Fulham but only won one of his six duels and ended up picking up a yellow in his 20 minutes on the pitch. His performance off the bench against Brentford was an improvement as he looks to acclimatise to the Premier League

Forwards

As seems to be the trend in a lot of these previews, West Ham have a couple of incredibly exciting wingers in Jared Bowen and Mohamed Kudus.

Sixty-two goals in 207 West Ham appearances has seen Bowen firmly establish himself in the England squad, although he has struggled to earn a starting berth with his direct running used more as an option as games are winding down.

He’s now captain of the Hammers and has a goal and an assist to his name so far this season. Once again Leif Davis will have his hands full.

On the other side is Kudus, who signed from Ajax in 2023 for £38 million. He’s not been as prolific as Bowen and it’s taken him a bit of time to settle into the Premier League but his dribbling ability is right up there with the best and he also has the tendency to score absolute worldies.

Both Kudus and Bowen’s best attributes come when counter-attacking with lots of their goals coming from their pace in behind. Both favour cutting in from the right-hand side but Kudus has had to make do with playing on the left so far this season which could blunt his effectiveness a bit.

With Said Benhrama sold to Lyon, the Hammers raided Leeds for Crysencio Summerville to provide depth on the wings. The 22-year-old Dutchman scored 19 goals in the Championship last season and added a further nine assists and he has previously proved that he can cut it at this level with four goals and two assists in 12 starts the last time he was in the Premier League with Leeds.

Hybrid players are common these days with multiple players able to cover a number of roles. It’s much rarer that a player goes from one position to another, but that is exactly what happened with Michael Antonio, who transitioned from right-back to centre forward.

He has a respectable 82 goals in 312 appearances for West Ham and brings a physical presence, and is able to hold up the ball and rough up defenders as an old school centre forward. With new signing Niko Fulkrug already suffering an injury, he looks set to continue leading the line for the time being.

West Ham spent £27 million on Fulkrug this summer following a 12-goal and eight-assist season. It’s a lot of money for a 31-year-old but he certainly knows where the back of the net is. He’s a bit of a modern-day Peter Crouch as he has 14 goals in 22 appearances for Germany as well.

The final striking option is Danny Ings. That’s three strikers, all in their thirties but who all know where the back of the net is. Ings has 72 goals in 227 Premier League appearances and most recently came off the bench to salvage a point against Fulham with a tidy finish.

The Teams

It looks like Town are building some consistency and some partnerships in certain areas. The back five are beginning to look settled and barring any injuries a Sam Morsy and Kalvin Phillips midfield is likely to continue.

Omari Hutchinson and Liam Delap are certain starters but the changes could come either side. I think Sammie Szmodics could come back in for Jack Clarke as Lieran McKenna has been more defensively-minded away from home with Chiedozie Ogbene keeping his place on the other side to deal with the aggressive Palmieri, but it wouldn’t surprise me either if Wes Burns was brought back in as a more attacking option.

For West Ham I can’t see there being any changes from their last time out against Brentford.

Prediction

West Ham sit 14th, one place and one point above Town. It’s hard to judge whether that’s an accurate position considering who they’ve played but Town will definitely come into this one thinking it’s winnable.

If this was at home I'd be going for an Ipswich win but Town have struggled offensively a little bit in away games this season so I'm going for yet another draw, this time 1-1.

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