Fiorentina vs West Ham preview
It is the Europa Conference League Final, where Fiorentina take on West Ham United in a showdown event.
West Ham have reached a European final after 48 years, and while both teams who have only ever won the European trophy once, will look to double it when they face each other. The Hammers‘ last major trophy was the 1980 FA Cup and have since reached just one final – The 202223 Conference League.
David Moyes and West Ham did not quite have the Premier League season they wanted, and will look to make up to the fans by winning the UEFA Conference League. They finished in 14th position in the English top-flight with 40 points.
While that is not the kind of performance that was expected of Moyes’ men, who finished in 7th position last season to qualify for the UEL in the first place. The Scottish manager’s future is also up in the air, with reports suggesting that he would be fired if the Hammers fail to win the Conference League.
This would be another added motivation for the West Ham squad and Moyes himself to win it and give it their all in the final.
Fiorentina on the other hand had a mediocre league campaign themselves, according to their own standards. They finished in 8th position in the 22/23 season and like West Ham will need to win the UEL to qualify for Europe next season.
The Europa League final between Roma and Sevilla showed that teams do tend to take a more pragmatic approach in the showdown event, and Fiorentina vs West Ham shouldn’t be anything different. Moyes is renowned for this kind of approach and this could be another end-to-end affair.
This XI should dominate any team in Europe 😳
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Fiorentina vs West Ham lineups
Fiorentina predicted lineup
Fiorentina manager Vincenzo Italiano knew that there was not much left to play for in the latter stages of 2022/23 Serie A. The Fiorentina manager took this opportunity to rest several of his key players knowing very well that a taxing clash against West Ham is on the cards.
This has been helpful for Italiano’s squad because he has very few injury concerns. His first choice playing 11 are very much raring to go which is not good news for West Ham. Salvatore Sirigu is the only long-term absentee from the squad and he is their third-choice goalkeeper.
In goal, the reliable Pietro Terracciano will start who has been their best player in the league this season. Cristiano Biraghi is expected to start ahead of Alexsa Terzic at Left-back. The competition for places has been hot in defence for the Serie A outfit, which has kept the players on their toes.
Brazilian right-back will get the nod at right-back, while the usual centre-back partnership of Lucas Quarta and Nikola Milenkovic should start in the centre of defence.
In the midfield pivot, the ever-present and 2022 World Cup star Sofian Amrabat will start alongside Rolando Mandragora. Jonathan Ikone and Nico Gonzales will flank Fiorentina on either side with Arthur Cabral expected to lead the line. Giacomo Bonaventura is expected to start in his usual role of free-roam in the attacking third.
Predicted Fiorentina 11: Terraccioano, Dodo, Milenkovic, Quarta, Biraghi, Amrabat, Mandragiora, Ikone, Bonaventura, Gonzalez, Cabral
West Ham predicted lineup
As for Moyes and West Ham United, the only big injury concern for them is the unavailability of Gianluca Scamacca. Apart from the Italian forward The Hammers have a fully fit squad and will look to get their hands on the clubs’ just second European trophy.
Lukas Fabianski will start in goal as he has for the majority of his West Ham career. Naif Aguerd and Kurt Zouma are the preferred cnetre-back partnership for Moyes and they will be supported on the full-back by Aaron Cresswell and Vladimir Coufal.
Declan Rice will start in midfield which will be his final game for the Hammers, after bids from elites clubs haven begun to come in. He will be supported by Tomas Soucek in the midfield pivot.
Said Benrahma, Lucas Paqueta and Jarod Bowen will play behind the lone striker Michail Antonio who have 20+ goal contributions between them this season.
Predicted West Ham 11: Fabianski, Coufal, Zouma, Aguerd, Creswell, Soucek, Rice, Benrahma, Paqueta, Bowen, Antonio
Fiorentina vs West Ham predictions
The nerves will be high for the showpiece event. Both teams have reached a European final after 40 odd years and winning this is important for the both of them.
David Moyes has been able to bring his team together for big games and perform at a very good level when very few expected them to. This is another one of those clashes and with Fiorentina lacking the quality on paper when compared to West Ham, expect the Hammers to edge it out.
FootTheBall predicts, Fiorentina 1-2 West Ham United.