Alphonse Areola and Emerson return to the West Ham United team for Sunday’s Premier League fixture with Aston Villa at London Stadium.
The France goalkeeper and Italy full-back come into the starting XI in place of Łukasz Fabiański and Aaron Cresswell respectively, with Emerson returning after missing last Sunday’s home draw with Burnley and the midweek UEFA Europa League round of 16 second-leg victory over SC Freiburg through injury.
Areola, meanwhile, has been David Moyes’ first-choice Premier League goalkeeper this season and retrains that position, with the experienced Fabiański providing top-quality cover from the substitutes’ bench.
Elsewhere, the nine other starters keep their places from Thursday’s 5-0 win over Freiburg, including goalscorers Lucas Paquetá, Jarrod Bowen and Mohammed Kudus.
Paquetá has started all 12 of West Ham’s Premier League wins in 2023/24, and the Brazilian has netted three goals and recorded five assists in total.
Bowen needs two goals to equal Paolo Di Canio’s 25-year-old record of 16 goals in a Premier League season, which the Italian set in 1999/00. The England forward has 14 top-flight strikes to his name, and 18 in all competitions. Not since Marlon Harewood hit 22 in 2004/05 has a West Ham player scored 20 goals in a season, and not since John Hartson scored 24 in 1997/88 has a Hammer hit 20-plus in all competitions in a top-flight campaign.
Kudus, meanwhile, scored twice against Freiburg, including a sensational 70-yard run and finish, taking his personal haul for the season to 12, including six in the Premier League.
Behind them, Areola will be protected by a back four of Vladimír Coufal, captain Kurt Zouma, Dinos Mavropanos and Emerson.
The midfield will be anchored by Edson Álvarez and Tomáš Souček, with Bowen, Paquetá and Kudus supporting centre-forward Michail Antonio.
Antonio starts a Premier League game for just the second time in 2024 and keeps his place following an outstanding performance in the midweek win over Freiburg.
Danny Ings is named among the substitutes against the club he left to join West Ham in January 2023. The 31-year-old could become just the third player to score a Premier League goal against four different teams he used to play for, emulating Peter Crouch and Nicolas Anelka, having already scored against Burnley, Liverpool and Southampton.
The other eight substitutes are Fabiański, Cresswell, Ben Johnson, Nayef Aguerd, Angelo Ogbonna, James Ward-Prowse, Kalvin Phillips and teenager George Earthy, who made his senior debut in the Europa League in midweek.
West Ham United: Areola, Coufal, Mavropanos, Zouma ©, Emerson, Álvarez, Souček, Paquetá, Kudus, Bowen, Antonio
Subs: Fabiański (GK), Johnson, Cresswell, Ogbonna, Aguerd, Phillips, Ward-Prowse, Earthy, Ings
Aston Villa: Martínez ©, Moreno, Pau, Konsa, Lenglet, Luiz, Tielemans, Durán, Rogers, Bailey, Watkins
Subs: Olsen (GK), Cash, Carlos, Digne, Chambers, Diaby, Zaniolo, Kesley-Hayden, Iroegbunam
Referee: Jarred Gillett
