Premier League fantasy football tips: West Ham team preview 2022/23

In this article, @CoysFPL (aka Dan) discusses his Premier League fantasy football tips for West Ham.

In this team preview series, Dan previews all 20 Premier League teams ahead of the 2022/23 season including season expectations, expected lineups, best player picks, under-the-radar gems and players to avoid.

Find all our other Premier League 2022/23 team previews here – which will be continually updated as the season draws closer!

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West Ham 2022/23 season expectations

David Moyes led the Hammers to another successful season, reaching the Europa League semi-final and another season in a European competition by finishing seventh in the league.

They started the season off to a flyer, sitting third in the league after 11 games after homes wins against the likes of Tottenham Hotspur, Liverpool and Leicester.

After they reached the last-16 of the Europa League, it would be fair to say the majority of their attention turned to that competition.

The Hammers made the last four of the competition, missing out on a place in the final following defeat to Eintracht Frankfurt.

From their last-16 first leg against Sevilla, West Ham only won three of the remaining 10 Premier League games, and recorded just the 15th most points in the league.

In Premier League games following Europa League ties, they only won four out of 12 games, so they’ll need to strengthen their squad depth to tackle this issue.

Only six teams scored more than their 1.53 goals per game and just seven beat their expected goals (xG) of 1.31 per game.

The Hammers had the ninth-best defensive record but only four teams kept fewer clean sheets than their eight.

Only Liverpool and Man City put more crosses into the box than West Ham and only five teams put in a higher number of successful corners, leading to West Ham scoring the joint-fifth most goals from set-pieces.

I think West Ham are on course for another successful season.

I don’t think they’ll put as much focus on the Europa Conference League and will save their key players for the league.

With some talented players linked, I think they could beat their points total last season but their chance of finishing in the top six look lower than last season.

West Ham 2022/23 expected line-up

                    Fabianski

  Zouma – Aguerd – Cresswell

Coufal – Rice – Soucek – Kostic

            Bowen – Fornals

                  Scamacca

 

Lukasz Fabianski looks likely to retain the first-choice goalkeeper spot despite competition from Alphonse Areola.

Given the club’s strong interest in Filip Kostic, I think Moyes could opt for a three-at-the-back system, something he’s tried and tested successfully in one-off games.

Kurt Zouma and new signing Nayef Aguerd are nailed-on starters. Aaron Cresswell should start on the left-side of the back three.

Vladimir Coufal should be preferred to Ben Johnson at right-wing back, and missed a lot of last season due to recovering from surgery.

With Kostic looking close to a done deal at the time of writing, he would be a shoe-in at left-wing back.

Declan Rice is new club captain and will start every game when fit. After the signing of Flynn Downes, Tomas Soucek’s spot is a bit more up for grabs, although the Czech should retain it.

Jarrod Bowen will play every game when fit and Pablo Fornals will start the majority of matches and is capable of playing in Soucek’s role if necessary.

Gianluca Scamacca is set to sign from Sassuolo and should take Michael Antonio’s spot from the get go.

Best West Ham forward for FPL

Gianluca Scamacca

The 6ft 4ins Italian forward is poised to sign from Sassuolo.

He comes off the back of a successful season in Serie A, scoring 16 times. He failed to register an assist however.

His record of 0.63 goals per 90 minutes was in the 93rd percentile of forwards in the top five European leagues, beating his xG record per 90 minutes of 0.45.

That xG record would’ve ranked eighth-best out of forwards in the Premier League but his shooting accuracy is very good.

His shots on target percentage of 46.2% put him in the 86h percentile, underlining his impressive conversion rate.

Remarkably, that was despite him averaging shots from 16.50 yards out, which is an average further out then 81% of forwards.

He’ll get fed with big chances from the wide areas and the stats suggest he’ll be extremely clinical.

Only three forwards had more big chances than Antonio in the Premier League last season, so I think Scamacca will have more big chances than he did at Sassuolo.

At his height, you’d expect him to win a lot of aerial duels – and he did just that last season, winning 55.7%.

That was a better percentage than 95% of forwards in the top-five leagues.

I think Scamacca fits like a glove in West Ham’s system, given their focus on crosses and direct play.

Therefore, I think he will be a very good mid priced asset and should be considered for you teams.

Best West Ham midfielder for FPL

Jarrod Bowen (£8.5m)

Bowen had a fine season, finishing with an impressive 12 goals and a league best 17 assists.

He’s now one of West Ham’s key players, and didn’t last 90 minutes only six times when he started.

Despite racking up 0.50 assists per start, Bowen actually only produced an expected assist (xA) count of 0.22.

That was only the 20th best record among midfielders, so I can’t see him getting near his assist tally from last season.

More than 50 midfielders made more key passes per start than his 1.21, so it’s a bit of a miracle that he picked up the most assists.

Seven of his 17 fantasy assists weren’t actually real assists, further emphasising how much he outperformed.

In terms of goal threat, he had the seventh-best xG (0.36), the seventh most big chances (0.59) and the sixth-most shots in the box (1.85) per start among midfielders.

His xG pretty much matched his actual output of 0.35 goals per start.

Bowen is undoubtedly West Ham’s best midfield asset but recreating last year’s success is unlikely.

That being said, he still looks like a very good option.

Best West Ham defender for FPL

Vladimir Coufal (4.5m)

Coufal had a difficult season last season, struggling with groin problems which eventually required surgery.

He’s set to return to being a first-team regular this season and would play at right-wing back if Moyes opts for three at the back.

That would make him an exciting option in attacking terms. He made nine goals in his first Premier League season in 2020/21 and four despite not being at his best last year.

Due to last season, he’s been given a price drop, making him very good value.

He still managed 0.16 assists per start, the tenth best among defenders and the most in the West Ham defensive ranks.

I think he looks like good value and is one of the stand-out budget defenders in the game.

Top under-the-radar West Ham players:

Pablo Fornals (£5.5m)

The Spaniard is pretty much nailed and should chip in with an occasional goal and assist at a budget price.

He managed six goals and four assists last season but was unlucky not to get more assists.

Only Bowen had a higher xA tally per start in the West Ham squad and Bowen’s was only 0.02 more than Fornals’ total of 0.20.

That expected tally was almost double Fornals’ actual assist total of 0.12 per game, so he should definitely build on his assist total from last season given a more clinical forward in Scamacca.

Fornals also created the most big chances (BC) per game in the squad (0.31) and made the most key passes per game (1.44).

He isn’t much a goal threat, only registering the fifth-best xG (0.14) and the fourth most big chances (0.22) per start in the West Ham squad.

But Fornals will start the vast majority of games and is a guarantee for a steady but decent return of points across the season at a nice price.

West Ham players to avoid:

Soucek only made six goal involvements last season and teams have become more cautious of his late runs into the box and aerial threat. I think there are better options at his price.

Declan Rice (£5.0m) is a very good player but has only scored six goals in 165 Premier League games, so isn’t a genuine FPL option.

West Ham set-piece takers

West Ham corner, free-kick and penalty takers are all documented in our Premier League set piece guide. This piece is updated regularly.

As at the end of the 21/22 season, the West Ham set-piece takers were as follows:

Penalties: Lanzini, Antonio, Rice
Direct free kicks: Cresswell, Benrahma
Corners and indirect free kicks: Fornals, Bowen, Cresswell, Lanzini
Aerial threats: Soucek, Dawson, Antonio, Ogbonna

Do you play or want to learn how to play Fantasy Premier League?

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