Graham Potter has named his starting XI for his first home game as West Ham United Head Coach against Fulham on Tuesday evening.
The 49-year-old takes charge of the Hammers at London Stadium for the first time, with three Premier League points at stake in a derby against Marco Silva’s in-form side.
Potter makes three changes to the team which started Friday’s 2-1 Emirates FA Cup third-round defeat at Aston Villa, with two of them enforced by hamstring injuries suffered by Niclas Füllkrug and Crysencio Summerville. Ollie Scarles, who made his first domestic senior start at Villa Park, is the third player to drop out of the team.
With six players ruled out through injury – goalkeeper Alphonse Areola, defenders Jean-Clair Tobido, winger Summerville and forwards Michail Antonio, Jarrod Bowen and Füllkrug – Potter has fewer options than he would have liked, but still has a strong squad at his disposal.
The three players coming into the starting XI are left-back Emerson, who returns after missing two games, and midfielders Guido Rodríguez and Carlos Soler.
Argentina international Rodríguez returns to the team for the first time since being sent-off in the Boxing Day win at Southampton, having remained on the substitutes’ bench for the defeats by Liverpool, Manchester City and Aston Villa.
Spain international Soler last started against Liverpool on 29 December and featured as a late substitute at Villa Park.
Otherwise, Potter has kept faith with eight of the players who started and played well on Friday evening.
Łukasz Fabiański starts in goal, with the 39-year-old seeking a 93rd Premier League clean sheet on what is his 374th appearance in the English top-tier – a record for a Polish player.
The back four will be filled out by right-back Aaron Wan-Bissaka and centre-backs Dinos Mavropanos and Maximilian Kilman, who are partnered for the 13th time in West Ham’s 21 Premier League matches this season.
Rodríguez anchors the midfield alongside his former Club América teammate Edson Álvarez, with stand-in captain Tomáš Souček and Soler playing in more advanced roles in front of them.
Souček scored the winner in this fixture in November 2020, before being sent-off in the reverse fixture at Craven Cottage in February 2021, although that red card was later rescinded.
Mohammed Kudus and Lucas Paquetá complete the starting XI, and it remains to be seen which of the two will be deployed in a central striker role.
Danny Ings, who scored a last-gasp equaliser in the 1-1 draw at Fulham in the reverse fixture in September, is among the nine substitutes named by Potter.
With Areola absent, birthday boy Wes Foderingham is the substitute goalkeeper. Scarles is joined on the bench by fellow defenders Vladimír Coufal, Aaron Cresswell and Kaelan Casey, and midfielders Lewis Orford, Andy Irving and Luis Guilherme.
West Ham United: Fabiański, Wan-Bissaka, Mavropanos, Kilman, Emerson, Rodríguez, Álvarez, Souček ©, Soler, Kudus, Paquetá
Subs: Foderingham (GK), Coufal, Cresswell, Scarles, Casey, Orford, Irving, Luis Guilherme, Ings
Fulham: Leno, Castagne, Andersen, Bassey, Robinson ©, Lukić, Pereira, Wilson, Iwobi, Smith Rowe, Jiménez
Subs: Benda (GK), Sessegnon, Cuenca, Diop, King, Cairney, Reed, Traoré, Muniz
Referee: Craig Pawson
