West Ham United predicted line-up vs. Everton: £96m trio set to return as one ruled out

West Ham United will look to bounce back from a rare European defeat when they return to Premier League action with a home game against Everton on Sunday afternoon.

A late Lucas Paquetá goal was not enough for the Hammers as first-half strikes from Kostas Fortounis and Rodinei gave Olympiakos a 2-1 win against David Moyes’ men, who are sat in second place in Group A at the midway point of the Europa League group stage campaign.

Speaking after the defeat after making several changes, Moyes defended his team selection and admitted tough decisions were made with Sunday’s clash with his former club in mind, stressing the need for view ‘the bigger picture’ across the season.

He told the club website: “Look, we changed a lot of players tonight, we’ve got the Premier League coming up and we’ve got a League Cup game next week and we’d won the first two games in the group, which gave us leeway to make changes tonight.

“But maybe I have to recognise that while we didn’t win the Conference League games easily, as they were all tough games, coming to Olympiakos after winning away in Freiburg – which was a good result – this wasn’t a good result and wasn’t a good performance.

“In our heads we certainly had a bigger picture in our heads and that was going into Sunday. I don’t think anybody could say the team we started with wasn’t a good team and wasn’t a team capable of winning or performing. Many of them have been very good players for us over the years and still are.”

With all eyes now on the London Stadium ahead of Sunday’s meeting with Everton, we look at the major selection issues facing Moyes as his side can claim a first win in three Premier League games.

Goalkeeper & Defence

Moyes’ main issues both come in the makeup of his defence with one player definitely ruled out through suspension and another rated as doubtful.

Former Chelsea defender Emerson Palmieri will definitely miss out as he serves a one-match ban after accumulating five yellows cards. The Brazilian did feature in Thursday night’s defeat in Greece but is likely to be replaced by the experienced Aaron Cresswell on Sunday. There is a major doubt over the availability of right-back Vladimir Coufal, who is set to undergo a late fitness test on some muscle tightness. Thilo Kehrer could be handed a start if the Czech international is unable to feature.

Midfield

Although James Ward Prowse and Thomas Soucek both started in Thursday night’s defeat, fellow midfielders Edson Alvarez and Lucas Paquetá were named among the substitutes, coming off the bench during the second-half. It seems highly likely the latter duo will return to the starting eleven as Moyes’ side look to move on from their loss in Greece.

Forwards

Danny Ings was handed only his third start of the season on Thursday but failed to make a significant impact and is still awaiting his first goal of the campaign. That almost certainly means Michail Antonio will come back into the side as he looks for his first Premier League goal since finding the net in a 3-1 win over Brighton and Hove Albion in August.

Full predicted line-up vs. Nottingham Forest

Alphonse Areola, Vladimir Coufal, Aaron Cresswell, Kurt Zouma, Nayef Aguerd, James Ward Prowse, Edson Alvarez, Jarrod Bowen, Tomas Soucek, Lucas Paquetá, Michail Antonio.