Niclas Füllkrug will start his first Premier League match for West Ham United since 4 January in Saturday’s home fixture with Southampton.
The Germany international centre-forward has looked in good form from the substitutes’ bench in the Hammers’ previous three matches, scoring against AFC Bournemouth and hitting the crossbar with trademark headers against Wolverhampton Wanderers and Liverpool.
Now, having recovered from the hamstring injury he suffered at Aston Villa in the Emirates FA Cup third round on 10 January, the 32-year-old will lead the line against the already-relegated Saints.
Füllkrug started the return fixture at St Mary’s Stadium on Boxing Day and will make his fourth Premier League start since joining from Borussia Dortmund last summer.
Elsewhere in Head Coach Graham Potter’s starting XI, Vladimír Coufal returns to the team in place of the injured Aaron Wan-Bissaka.
The Czechia international right-back has featured sporadically this season, with Wan-Bissaka starting all but the opening two games of the season in the Premier League, but has always given his all when called upon in a variety of positions.
Coufal makes his 175th appearance for the Club today, and his 158th start in all competitions, and will hope to mark the occasion with his first goal in Claret and Blue!
It appears Potter is switching to a back four, as Dinos Mavropanos drops out of the starting XI.
A third change sees Ollie Scarles drop to the substitutes’ bench, with Emerson starting at left-back.
The Italy international makes his 110th appearance for the Club since arriving from Chelsea in August 2022. In that time, he won the UEFA Europa Conference League in 2023 and has featured 85 times in the Premier League.
So, Potter’s starting XI sees Alphonse Areola in goal, with a back four of Coufal, Emerson and centre-backs Jean-Clair Todibo and ever-present starter Maximilian Kilman immediately in front of him.
The midfield three will be unchanged, with former Southampton midfielder James Ward-Prowse, Carlos Soler and Lucas Paquetá, who put in a superb performance in last Sunday’s 2-1 defeat at Liverpool, all keeping their places.
Captain Jarrod Bowen and Ghana star Mohammed Kudus, who started up front at Anfield, will return to their more regular positions on the right and left wings respectively, with Füllkrug leading the line.
The substitutes’ bench will be filled by Mavropanos, Scarles, 40-year-old goalkeeper Łukasz Fabiański, defender Aaron Cresswell, midfielders Guido Rodríguez, Andy Irving and Tomáš Souček, and attackers Luis Guilherme and Evan Ferguson.
Wan-Bissaka, Edson Álvarez, Crysencio Summerville and Michail Antonio are all absent injured, while Wes Foderingham and Danny Ings are not involved against the Saints.
West Ham United: Areola, Coufal, Todibo, Kilman, Emerson, Ward-Prowse, Soler, Paquetá, Bowen ©, Kudus, Füllkrug
Subs: Fabiański (GK), Cresswell, Scarles, Mavropanos, Rodríguez, Souček, Irving, Luis Guilherme, Ferguson
Southampton: Ramsdale, Walker-Peters, Stephens ©, Harwood-Bellis, Bednarek, Manning, Downes, Ugochukwu, Fernandes, Sulemana, Onuachu
Subs: McCarthy (GK), Bree, Wood, Welington, Smallbone, Aribo, Dibling, Stewart, Archer
Referee: Andrew Kitchen
