Wolverhampton Wanderers and West Ham United continue their pre-season schedule with a showdown in the United States on Saturday evening.
The two Premier League sides meet in Florida as they bid to put on a show in front of an American audience, the game having a bit of extra spice due to the involvement of Julen Lopetegui.
Match preview
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While Wolves may have ended last season with a damp squib, there is a change of mood at Molineux given the early signings of Pedro Lima, Rodrigo Gomes and Jorgen Strand Larsen.
More additions will soon follow given that Max Kilman has left for Saturday's opponents, but this feels like a Wolves side that could impress with Yerson Mosquera a welcome returnee from his loan at Villarreal.
On a pre-season trip to Spain, Wolves were able to record a 1-0 victory over Como, a game marred by Hwang Hee-chan being on the receiving end of a comment that prompted complaints of racist abuse - suggestions Como rejected.
A 3-0 triumph has since been posted over Bristol City in a behind-closed-doors fixture, setting Gary O'Neil's side up for the match with the Hammers.
Clashes with the likes of Crystal Palace and RB Leipzig will follow this contest before Wolves play host to Rayo Vallecano on August 10.
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All eyes will be on this match, though, with Wolves being reunited with Lopetegui, their former manager who has recently become the boss of West Ham.
In sharp contrast to not being given transfer funds by Wolves last summer, the Spaniard has been able to spend over £65m on Kilman and Brazilian starlet Luis Guilherme.
West Ham began their summer schedule with a 2-2 draw against Ferencvaros in Austria, a valuable exercise as the East Londoners came back from a two-goal half-time deficit.
That was followed by a 1-0 triumph at Dagenham & Redbridge, with the next phase of their development under Lopetegui taking place across the pond, where they will also face Palace.
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Team News
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Wolves remain without Jose Sa, Nelson Semedo, Joao Gomes and Pedro Neto due to the quartet representing their nations at Euro 2024 or the Copa America.
Hwang Hee-chan may only be named on the substitutes' bench at best having missed training earlier this week.
Lima, Gomes and Larsen should all feature at some stage, with second-choice goalkeeper Daniel Bentley featuring between the sticks.
Meanwhile, Alphonse Areola, Vladimir Coufal, Tomas Soucek, Lucas Paqueta, Jarrod Bowen and Michail Antonio are all expected to be unavailable for West Ham.
The starting lineup should not look too dissimilar from the Dagenham game with Mohammed Kudus and Danny Ings most likely to be recalled.
Wolverhampton Wanderers possible starting lineup:
Bentley; Doherty, Bueno, Mosquera, Ait-Nouri; Bellegarde, Lemina, Doyle; Sarabia, Larsen, Cunha
West Ham United possible starting lineup:
Fabianski; Casey, Zouma, Kilman, Emerson; Potts, Ward-Prowse; Luis Guilherme, Kudus, Cornet; Ings
We say: Wolverhampton Wanderers 1-1 West Ham United
Both teams are in a position where they want to ramp up their intensity, and that should lead to a competitive encounter being played out in Jacksonville. Although there will be plenty of attacking talent on show, we would not be surprised to see a low-scoring draw play out.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
Darren Plant
