Mitch Freeley

It’s all change at the London stadium as West Ham look to forget the 2017/2018 season which was marked by fan unrest and uninspiring performances. 

Premier League winner Manuel Pellegrini has been recruited from China and will be charged with getting his side to play the West Ham way, which I presume is some kind of free-flowing, attack-minded football that lacked under David Moyes. 

Pellegrini has been back heavily in the transfer market, with the East London club addressing their defensive fragility with the signing of Issa Diop from Toulouse and exciting English full-back Ryan Fredericks from Fulham.  Whilst in Midfield, West Ham broke their transfer record to sign Felipe Anderson from Lazio. The Brazilian international was one of the standout player in Serie A last season, and could be a key signing should he settle to the Premier League quickly. Former Arsenal man Jack Wilshere has joined on a free and providing he can stay fit, the 26-year-old could help the club he supported as a boy into the European football. 

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Transfers (At the time of publication)

In-Lukasz Fabianski [Swansea] £7m, Issa Diop [Toulouse] £22m, Ryan Fredericks [Fulham] Free, Felipe Anderson [Lazio] Undisclosed, Fabian Balbuena [Corinthians] Undisclosed, Andriy Yarmolenko [Borussia Dortmund] Undisclosed, Jack Wilshere [Arsenal] Free

Out- Marcus Browne [Oxford] Loan, Korrey Henry [Yeovil] Free, Reece Burke [Hull] Undisclosed

First Five Premier League Fixtures

12/08/18 Liverpool Vs West Ham-15:30- beIN SPORTS CONNECT
18/08/18 West Ham Vs Bournemouth-17:00- beIN SPORTS CONNECT
25/08/18 Arsenal Vs West Ham -17:00- beIN SPORTS CONNECT
01/09/18 West Ham Vs Wolves -17:00- beIN SPORTS CONNECT
16/09/18 Everton Vs West Ham-18:00- beIN SPORTS CONNECT

Fan View- David Riley- Twitter- @David_G_Riley

How has the summer Transfer window been? Right now it could barely be better. We've spent money, not sold any key players and got our business done early, I can't have many complaints! I still feel we need a disciplined, holding midfielder but in Pellegrini I trust.

Player to watch? There's a number. Young Declan Rice should play a larger role as the season goes on and I'm intrigued to see how Issa Diop settles but it has to be Jack Wilshere. If Jack can stay fit and get a good run of games under his belt then we'll have an absolute bargain in my eyes. He's only 26 remember.
 
How’s the manager going to do? Pellegrini is a positive, attacking manager, he'll have the fans on board right away and our transfer business so far only supports that view. Our defence was one of the worst in the league last season so there's work to be done there but he's already gone about replacing most of our backline. He's obviously done his homework! 
 
What would be a dream season for your team? 7th place and a trophy. We haven't won a major trophy since 1980 so a whole generation of Hammers, myself included, haven't seen us lift a trophy in their lifetime. That needs to change. There's been talk over the last few years about the diminishing value of the FA & League Cups but our fans would love nothing more than seeing the side lifting one at Wembley.
 
Premier League finish? I'm going to say 8th. If our signings gel and we hit the ground running, then we could apply some pressure on the Top 6 but I think a lot has changed over the last few months and there's bound to be a few bumps along the way.

beIN SPORTS Prediction- 7
(Note this is an average of the predictions from the beIN SPORTS team)

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