Graham Potter has gone strong for his first game as West Ham United’s Head Coach – a Friday night Emirates FA Cup third-round tie at Premier League rivals Aston Villa.
Nineteen-year-old Ollie Scarles makes his FA Cup debut as Potter hands the 2023 FA Youth Cup winner a start at left-back. The Academy of Football graduate appeared twice as a substitute in Premier League draws with AFC Bournemouth and Brighton & Hove Albion before Christmas, two years after debuting as a 16-year-old in a UEFA Europa Conference League group-stage win over FCSB in Romania.
Scarles’ inclusion is one of three changes to the starting XI from last weekend’s Premier League defeat at Manchester City.
Also coming into the side are goalkeeper Łukasz Fabiański and centre-back Dinos Mavropanos, who replace Alphonse Areola and Jean-Clair Todibo respectively.
Fabiański plays his 24th FA Cup tie on his return to the side after recovering from the head injury he suffered at Southampton on Boxing Day. The 39-year-old won the trophy with Arsenal on his final appearance for the Gunners in May 2014.
Tomáš Souček captains the side again in the absence of Jarrod Bowen, who is continuing to work his way back to fitness from a broken foot he suffered against Liverpool on 29 December.
Aaron Wan-Bissaka returns to right-back, having played on the left at the Etihad Stadium last time out, with Scarles on the left of the back four.
In the centre, Mavropanos will be partnered by Maximilian Kilman, who reached the FA Cup quarter-finals with Wolverhampton Wanderers last season.
In front of them, Edson Álvarez will anchor the midfield alongside skipper Souček and Brazilian Lucas Paquetá.
The front three will be the same trio who started at Manchester City, with goalscorer Niclas Füllkrug flanked by Mohammed Kudus on the right wing and Crysencio Summerville wide on the left.
The substitutes’ bench will be comprised of goalkeeper Wes Foderingham, defenders Vladimír Coufal, Aaron Cresswell and Scarles’ fellow FA Youth Cup winner Kaelan Casey, midfielders Guido Rodríguez, Andy Irving, Carlos Soler and Luis Guilherme, and striker Danny Ings.
Aston Villa: Olsen, Cash, Mings ©, Konsa, Maatsen, Tielemans, Barkley, Rogers, Bailey, Kamara, Watkins
Subs: Gauci (GK), Digne, Bogarde, Ramsey, Nedeljkovic, Onana, Jimoh, Burrowes, Buendía
West Ham United: Fabiański, Wan-Bissaka, Mavropanos, Kilman, Scarles, Álvarez, Souček ©, Paquetá, Kudus, Summerville, Füllkrug
Subs: Foderingham (GK), Coufal, Cresswell, Casey, Rodríguez, Irving, Soler, Luis Guilherme, Ings
Referee: Tim Robinson
