Nayef Aguerd and Saïd Benrahma return to the West Ham United starting XI for Friday evening’s Premier League fixture at Luton Town.
Aguerd comes back from a one-match suspension served for the red card he was shown against Chelsea a fortnight ago, and replaces Angelo Ogbonna at the heart of the defence.
Benrahma is in for Tomáš Souček, who is not available after suffering a head injury in last weekend’s victory at Brighton & Hove Albion.
Summer signings James Ward-Prowse and Edson Álvarez both continue in midfield, while our most-recent arrival Mohammed Kudus is named among the nine substitutes for the first time since completing his transfer from Ajax last Sunday.
Jarrod Bowen will hope to become the first West Ham player since Vic Watson in 1930/31 to score in the Irons’ first three top-flight away matches of a new season, having netted at AFC Bournemouth and Brighton.
The UEFA Europa Conference League matchwinner is now only three short of 100 senior goals, and could reach his century with a hat-trick this evening!
Ward-Prowse will look to continue his outstanding start to life in Claret and Blue, which saw him add a goal at Brighton to the two assists he provided on his debut against Chelsea – a goal which took him to a round 50 in the Premier League. The midfielder remains one direct free-kick goal shy of equaling David Beckham’s all-time record of 18.
As he did in our opening three Premier League matches, Kurt Zouma captains the Irons again this afternoon.
Zouma’s fellow France international Alphonse Areola continues in goal after being included in his national squad for two September internationals and the 30-year-old wears a West Ham shirt for the 45th time.
With the returning Aguerd at left centre-back, the back four is completed by Czech Republic international Vladimír Coufal and UEFA Euro 2020 winner Emerson in the full-back positions.
Mexico star Álvarez looks set to slot into a defensive midfield role ahead of the back four, while Lucas Paquetá will wear the No10 shirt and could fill that role again.
Michail Antonio will lead the line, with the No9 seeking to add to his Club record haul of 63 Premier League goals on his 232nd top-flight appearance for the Irons, the most-recent of which completed the scoring in last weekend’s 3-1 win at Brighton.
Ghana international Kudus is joined on a strong bench by midfielder Pablo Fornals and fellow attackers Maxwel Cornet, Danny Ings and Divin Mubama, who scored a penalty in West Ham’s shootout victory here in the FA Youth Cup third round in December 2020.
Academy of Football graduate Reece Burke starts in the Luton defence, while long-serving former Hammer Pelly Ruddock Mpanzu is among the home substitutes for Rob Edwards' Hatters.
Luton Town: Kaminski, Bell, Burke, Andersen, Doughty, Giles, Nakamba, Barkley, Chong, Morris ©, Adebayo
Subs: Krul, Ogbene, Berry, Woodrow, Kaboré, Mpanzu, Brown, Johnson, Francis-Clarke
West Ham United: Areola, Coufal, Zouma ©, Aguerd, Emerson, Álvarez, Ward-Prowse, Bowen, Paquetá, Benrahma, Antonio
Subs: Fabiański (GK), Cresswell, Kehrer, Ogbonna, Fornals, Cornet, Kudus, Ings, Mubama
Referee: Paul Tierney
