Premier League Fantasy Football Tips 2021/22 – West Ham

Premier League Fantasy Football Tips 2021/22 for West Ham by @CoysFPL.

In this team preview series, Dan previews all 20 Premier League teams ahead of the 2021/22 season including season expectations, expected lineups, best player picks, under the radar gems, and players to avoid.

Find all our other Premier League 2021/22 Team Previews here which will be continually updated as the season draws closer!

West Ham 2021/22 Season Expectations

West Ham had an excellent campaign last time out, completely exceeding expectations by finishing sixth and securing a Europa League place.

They were particularly impressive at home, boasting the second best home record in the league. That being said their home and away form didn’t particularly differ; they averaged 1.79 points per game at home and 1.63 away from home.

As well as that, they only scored two more goals at home and only conceded three more away from the London Stadium. They improved as the season went on; if the season had become on Christmas Day West Ham would have secured top four. Should the Hammers hold on to Declan Rice I can see a similar season.

I think West Ham will struggle to improve on last season, but can see them comfortably securing another top-half finish. It might take them a while to get going given their new European duties.

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West Ham Expected lineup:

best west ham fantasy football player tips

The defensive five will undoubtedly start all games when fit. However, David Moyes frequently opts for five at the back, usually against top sides or to match teams who play with wing-backs. That would bring Arthur Masuaku into the line-up, pushing Aaron Cresswell to the left side of the back three.

Tomas Soucek will start next to Declan Rice in central midfield assuming Rice stays at the club.

I wouldn’t be surprised to see the Hammers strengthen in the attacking midfield positions, with Jesse Lingard rumoured to return permanently. For now, Said Benrahma, Pablo Fornals and Jarrod Bowen will fill this positions. The former would be the likeliest to miss out if the formation switched to a wing-back system.

Michail Antonio will lead the line.

West Ham Best Players:

West Ham had a pretty average defensive record last season, conceding the 9th least goals and keeping 11 clean sheets, a record that ten teams could better. They kept six of their eleven clean sheets at home, so there’s no real sign to suggest there’s any difference between their clean sheet chances at home or away.

All four of West Ham’s defenders can be considered decent assets due to their attacking threat, but the two stand-out picks are Vladimir Coufal and Aaron Cresswell. Cresswell made 11 Fantasy assists last season: the most in the league, whilst Coufal made nine, the joint second amount.

Cresswell has set-piece duties over Coufal and despite not scoring from a free-kick last season, he’s still an expert at them. The former had a slightly better xA per 90 record over the Czech, with 0.17 to Coufal’s 0.14. Cresswell averaged 1.6 key passes per game to Coufal’s 1.3, with half of those coming from his set-piece duties.

It is fair to say that Coufal’s open play threat is clearly greater than Cresswell’s, but the latter’s set-piece threat is enough to overrule that. I think Cresswell is only a slightly better option so I’d probably save money by going Coufal assuming he is the cheaper asset.

West Ham struggled with penalties and I wouldn’t be surprised to see Cresswell take one.

Michail Antonio endured another injury ridden season, but still reached a double figure goal return, registering a goal or assist every 131 minutes. He totalled 0.52 expected goals and 2.92 shots per 90 minutes. The first record was the fourth highest in the league.

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West Ham Under the Radar Players:

Jarrod Bowen scored eight goals and assisted six after featuring in every Premier League game last season.

He shares set-pieces with Cresswell and just might get penalties next season. He is definitely prone to an early substitution; he only played the full game on eight occasions last season.

It is more representative to use his underlying stats per game, due to the fact he doesn’t often play 90 minutes. He ranked fourth in the current squad for shots per game, with 1.7, and shots in the penalty area, with 0.9.

He created o.4 chances per game, which was beaten by seven other members of the current squad. Only Antonio had a better expected goal record per 90 minutes in the current side; Bowen totalled 0.28.

Tomas Soucek provided good Fantasy value last season, scoring on ten occasions. All ten came in the box, with seven coming in the six yard box.

That pretty much shows where he’s a threat: crosses and set-pieces. Impressively, he played every minute of the season, a record which only two other outfield players could emulate. Soucek was second in the squad for shots and shots in the six-yard box per game, with 24% of his shots coming in the six-yard box, and 82% coming in the penalty area.

Only Bowen and Antonio had a better expected goal record per 90 minutes, but unlike Soucek, are not guaranteed to play the full game. Soucek’s creativity was minimal, only assisting twice and ranking only 11th for key passes per game.

Only the goalkeeper and the centre-halves are less likely to make a goal in the line-up. He’s a good option to stick with for the entire season, I think it’s very likely he’ll get another double figure goal return, so be patient with him if he makes your starting squad.

Craig Dawson is the best defensive option besides Cresswell and Coufal. He is a huge set-piece threat; in is his last six Premier League seasons has never scored less than two. Of the West Ham defenders, he had the most shots per game, with 0.7, and in the division only Burnley’s centre half pair Ben Mee and James Tarkowski had more shots in the six yard box per game.

Fantasy Premier League 2021/22 Tips – Team Previews and Best Players

West Ham Players to Avoid:

Pablo Fornals became a first team regular towards the end of last season, starting all twelve of the final games he was fit for, and only coming off before 85 minutes in three of those.

Despite that, in those twelve games he only once and assisted once aside from his brace and assist on the final day. He didn’t particularly impress across the season from a Fantasy perspective with only five goals and seven assists.

He actually went a spell of 14 games without a goal involvement, but ranked fourth in the squad for both shots and key passes per game.

Furthermore, he had the third most shots in the box per game in the current squad, with one. That all being said, I think Soucek and Bowen are better options.

Said Benrahma is the riskiest pick of the four midfielders I’ve mentioned, but probably has the highest upside. He should be nailed if West Ham don’t resign Jesse Lingard, and topped the West Ham charts for shots out of the box and key passes per 90 in my expected eleven last season.

Only Antonio had more shots per 90 minutes of the current squad, but like Bowen, Benrahma won’t play 90 minutes often. Only one goal last season isn’t enough to be considered an option yet, but if he recreates his Brentford form which saw him score 27 and assist 24 in his last two seasons there, he could be a great option.

We should wait-and-see on him for now.

Find all our other Premier League 2021/22 Team Previews here which will be continually updated as the season draws closer!

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Premier League Fantasy Football Tips 2021/22 – Team Preview – West Ham

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