Julen Lopetegui kicks-off his tenure as West Ham United Head Coach by handing debuts to Maximilian Kilman and Guido Rodríguez in Saturday’s Premier League opener against Aston Villa at London Stadium.
The Spaniard picks the same side which retained the Betway Cup with a 6-5 penalty shootout victory over RC Celta de Vigo last weekend, albeit the team which finished that game was much changed from the starting XI.
The Hammers are aiming to make a perfect start to the new campaign in east London against Villa, who are themselves preparing for a first season in the UEFA Champions League since 1983 under the tutelage of Unai Emery.
France international Alphonse Areola starts in goal, and will be looking for a first Premier League clean sheet of the campaign on his 75th appearance for the Club.
Lopetegui sticks with a back four, with Vladimír Coufal, Dinos Mavropanos, Kilman and Emerson tasked with stopping the visitors.
Argentina defensive midfielder Guido Rodríguez makes his first Premier League start for us since joining on a free transfer, having departed Spanish club Real Betis. He will team up with Tomáš Souček and Lucas Paquetá, who scored a goal and grabbed an assist on his first appearance of pre-season against Celta Vigo last time out.
Jarrod Bowen, who was named as West Ham Club captain ahead of the 2024/25 season on Thursday, scored the first West Ham goal at London Stadium since our 3-1 victory over Luton Town in May when he opened the scoring against Celta Vigo.
The England winger, along with Ghana starboy Mohammed Kudus, will look to support Michail Antonio, who leads the line this evening.
On the bench, summer signings Aaron Wan-Bissaka, Jean-Clair Todibo, Crysencio Summerville and Niclas Füllkrug will be hoping to come on and get their first minutes in Claret and Blue. Former Aston Villa Danny Ings is among Lopetegui’s options on the bench, as are the likes of James Ward-Prowse, Andy Irving, Aaron Cresswell and Łukasz Fabiański.
Edson Álvarez is not available as he continues to recover from a hamstring injury, while Kurt Zouma is not part of the squad after Lopetegui confirmed he could be leaving the Club.
Nayef Aguerd, Maxwel Cornet, Freddie Potts and Luis Guilherme are fit, but have not been included in the matchday 20, while Wes Foderingham is not included in the final squad after travelling as third goalkeeper.
West Ham United: Areola, Coufal, Mavropanos, Kilman, Emerson, Rodríguez , Souček, Paquetá, Bowen ©, Kudus, Antonio
Subs: Fabiański (GK), Cresswell, Todibo, Wan-Bissaka, Ward-Prowse, Irving, Summerville, Füllkrug, Ings
Aston Villa: Martínez, Cash, Konsa, Pau, Digne, McGinn © Tielemans, Onana, Rogers, Bailey, Watkins
Subs: Gauci (GK), Diego Carlos, Maatsen, Nedeljkovic, Barkley, Buendía, Philogene, Ramsey, Durán
Referee: Tony Harrington
