Julen Lopetegui has named an unchanged starting XI for West Ham United’s first away fixture of the 2024/25 campaign on Saturday at Crystal Palace.
The Hammers head to a decidedly wet and cold Selhurst Park seeking a first win of the Premier League season, and the Spaniard picks the same side that kicked-off with a narrow 2-1 defeat to Aston Villa.
Both West Ham and Palace were on the wrong end of 2-1 defeats in their respective opening-day clashes. Those results put the Hammers and the Eagles in the middle pack in the Premier League, and both will be eager to record their first win of the season at the second attempt.
Having met just three weeks ago in Tampa, Florida, in the Stateside Cup, West Ham and Crystal Palace will clash again, with early points up for grabs at Selhurst Park.
The Irons boast a good run of form when visiting south London, having lost only four out of their last ten fixtures at Selhurst Park.
The team Lopetegui has picked to try continue that feat has Alphonse Areola in goal, with the France international seeking a first Premier League clean sheet of the campaign.
Vladimír Coufal, Maximilian Kilman, Dinos Mavropanos and Emerson comprise the back four.
The midfield will be anchored by Guido Rodríguez, Tomáš Souček and Lucas Paquetá, who carried his excellent pre-season form into the Hammers’ opening day fixture against Aston Villa, where he levelled from the penalty spot.
Mohammed Kudus scored the Irons' only goal in the aforementioned Stateside Cup defeat, and he and Jarrod Bowen look likely to fill the wing positions, as they did at London Stadium a week ago.
Michail Antonio scored in the humbling 5-2 defeat against Palace in April, and he again leads the line.
West Ham welcome Edson Álvarez back to the substitutes’ bench after recovering from a hamstring injury, while Aaron Wan-Bissaka, who is one of Crystal Palace’s most successful academy graduates, will be hoping to get his first minutes in Claret and Blue.
Among the other substitutes is Jean-Clair Todibo, Crysencio Summerville and Niclas Füllkrug, who all made their West Ham debuts last weekend, and they will be focused on making an impact from the bench. Łukasz Fabiański, Aaron Cresswell, Danny Ings and James Ward-Prowse complete the matchday squad.
Crystal Palace: Henderson, Munoz, Guéhi ©, Riad, Richards, Mitchell, Lerma, Wharton, Eze, Mateta, Édouard
Subs: Johnstone (GK), Clyne, Ward, Holding, Sarr, Schlupp, Kamada, Doucouré, Ahamada
West Ham United: Areola, Coufal, Mavropanos, Kilman, Emerson, Rodríguez , Souček, Paquetá, Bowen ©, Kudus, Antonio
Subs: Fabiański (GK), Cresswell, Todibo, Wan-Bissaka, Ward-Prowse, Álvarez, Summerville, Füllkrug, Ings
