West Ham United women’s team boss Rehanne Skinner has made three changes for Wednesday’s eagerly-awaited Adobe Women’s FA Cup fourth-round match against Liverpool at Chigwell Construction Stadium.
Megan Walsh returns to the team to feature in-between the sticks, while China international Li Mengwen is drafted into the side at right-back, and Manuela Paví will provide flair and creativity on the left flank.
Goalkeeper Walsh, who faced 20 shots and made seven saves in last week’s 2-1 Subway® Women’s League Cup quarter-final win over Tottenham Hotspur at Gaughan Group Stadium, replaces Kinga Szemik in goal and marks the 30-year-old's tenth appearance in Claret and Blue.
With Verena Hanshaw and Eva Nyström ineligible to play, as they were not registered before the original fixture date on 12 January, China international Mengwen is recalled at right-back as Skinner reverts to a back four.
Switzerland international Seraina Piubel is the third player to miss out on the starting XI, with the No77 dropping to the substitutes’ bench. Paví comes back into the side to make her ninth start and 16th appearance in all competitions since joining from Deportivo Cali last summer.
Teenager Soraya Walsh is named in Skinner’s matchday squad for the first time since December, having made her sole senior appearance for the women’s team in their 3-0 dispatching of Southampton in the Subway® Women’s League Cup in December.
Otherwise, Skinner has selected the same eight players who started the home victory over Everton four days ago.
Ahead of Walsh will be a defensive line that consists of Mengwen, Amber Tysiak, Camila Sáez and Anouk Denton, a trio that impressed at Chigwell Construction Stadium on Sunday to help the Hammers secure their first WSL clean sheet since November.
Captain Katrina Gorry will partner Oona Siren in midfield, with the Finland international set to feature for the 15th game in a row in all competitions, while Riko Ueki, who headed home an 85th-minute equaliser against the Reds to earn the Hammers their first point of the Barclays Women's Super League campaign in September, looks set to fill the No10 role, flanked by Paví and Viviane Asseyi.
Shekiera Martinez, who has impressed since returning from her loan at Frauen-Bundesliga outfit SC Freiburg and netted the opener against Everton on Sunday, is rewarded with her third consecutive start and leads the line for the Hammers this evening.
The substitutes’ bench will be filled by goalkeeper Szemik, defender Shelina Zadorsky, full-back Kirsty Smith, midfielders Halle Houssein, Piubel, Marika Bergman Lundin and Dagný Brynjarsdóttir, winger Walsh and striker Emma Harries.
West Ham United: M.Walsh, Mengwen, Sáez, Tysiak, Denton, Siren, Gorry ©, Asseyi, Paví, Ueki, Martinez
Subs: Szemik (GK), Smith, Zadorsky, S.Walsh, Houssein, Bergman Lundin, Brynjarsdóttir, Piubel, Harries
Liverpool: Laws, Daniëls, Fisk, Clark, Evans, Hinds ©, Kerr, Höbinger, Holland, Smith, Kiernan
Subs: Micah (GK) Parry, Kapocs, Román Haug, Enderby, Bartel, Bonner, Shaw
Referee: Kirsty Dowle
