Rehanne Skinner has made seven changes to her West Ham United women’s team starting XI for Wednesday’s Subway® Women’s League Cup quarter-final match away to Tottenham Hotspur, with Shekiera Martinez handed a first start for the Club.
The 23-year-old joined the Hammers in the summer from Frauen-Bundesliga side Eintracht Frankfurt, but spent the first half of the season at German club SC Freiburg, for whom she netted five goals in 13 appearances.
Having excelled in her home country, Martinez is in Skinner’s team for the first time since returning to Chadwell Heath at the beginning of the year and will be aiming to continue her scoring streak now in Claret and Blue.
Megan Walsh, Camila Sáez, Shannon Cooke, Marika Bergman Lundin, Manuela Paví and Emma Harries also come in for this clash against Tottenham.
Kinga Szemik, Amber Tysiak, Shelina Zadorsky, Anouk Denton, Katrina Gorry, Riko Ueki and Viviane Asseyi step out and move to the bench.
Goalkeeper Walsh, who kept a clean sheet in the Group C win over Southampton, will hope to extend her record between the sticks, and takes over West Ham captaincy at Gaughan Group Stadium.
Ahead of Walsh will be a defensive line that consists of Li Mengwen, Sáez and Cooke, while Kirsty Smith, who made her 50th Barclays Women’s Super League appearance for the Club against Chelsea, will operate in the left-back berth.
The midfield will likely be anchored by Oona Siren and Bergman Lundin, the latter of whom makes her fourth start of the season, while Harries looks set to fill the No10 role, flanked by Seraina Piubel and Paví.
The forward line will be led by Germany U23 international Martinez, who starts for the first time for the Hammers, having made a positive impact on proceedings at Chigwell Construction Stadium on Sunday, helping the side produce a more intentful second-half showing in the attacking third.
A strong bench is named too by Skinner, with Szemik, Tysiak, Denton, Zadorsky, Halle Houssein, Gorry, Dagný Brynjarsdóttir, Ueki and Asseyi to call upon.
Tottenham Hotspur: Heeps, Bartrip, Nildén, Naz, Raso, England ©, Oroz, Hunt, Thomas, Spence, Neville
Subs: Spencer (GK), Grant, Vinberg, Csiki, Ahtinen, Bühler, Ayane, Gunning-Williams
West Ham United: Walsh ©, Mengwen, Sáez, Cooke, Smith, Siren, Bergman-Lundin, Paví, Piubel, Harries, Martinez
Subs: Szemik (GK), Tysiak, Denton, Zadorsky, Houssein, Gorry, Brynjarsdóttir, Ueki, Asseyi
Referee: Ryan Atkin
