David Moyes has made three changes to his West Ham United starting XI for Tuesday’s Premier League fixture with Brighton & Hove Albion at London Stadium.
The Hammers manager is without Vladimír Coufal, Kurt Zouma, Thilo Kehrer, Lucas Paquetá and Michail Antonio due to either illness or injury, while Nayef Aguerd and Mohammed Kudus have departed to join up with Morocco and Ghana respectively for the CAF Africa Cup of Nations.
With seven senior players unavailable, the Scot welcomes Ben Johnson, Pablo Fornals and Saïd Benrahma into team, with Coufal, Paquetá and Kudus the three players who started the 2-0 win at Arsenal on 28 December absent from the matchday squad.
In Zouma’s continued absence due to a knee problem Angelo Ogbonna again captains the side against the Seagulls, with the veteran Italian partnered by Dinos Mavropanos at centre-back. The Greece international scored his first West Ham goal at Emirates Stadium last week.
Behind them, Alphonse Areola starts in goal, with Johnson deputising for the ill Coufal at right-back and making his first Premier League start since May last year in the process. The in-form Emerson continues at left-back.
Central midfield mercifully remains unaffected, with James Ward-Prowse seeking a goal to go with the one he scored in the reverse 3-1 win at Brighton in August, and Tomáš Souček looking to celebrate signing a new contract with the Club by adding to the eight goals he has already plundered this term.
The midfield will be anchored by Mexican machine Edson Álvarez.
The absences of Paquetá (calf) and Kudus (AFCON) give opportunities to Fornals and Benrahma, with the two UEFA Europa Conference League heroes flanking Jarrod Bowen in attack.
Bowen, of course, scored at Brighton in August and has since gone on to net eleven Premier League goals in total, ranking him fifth in the race for the Golden Boot behind Erling Haaland, Mohamed Salah, Dominic Solanke and Son Heung-min.
The substitutes’ bench contains some unfamiliar names, with Academy prospects Kaelan Casey and Lewis Orford joining fellow FA Youth Cup winner Divin Mubama and young professional Levi Laing among the nine replacements. Casey and Laing are defenders, while Orford is a central midfield player.
Alongside them, Moyes has the experienced Łukasz Fabiański, Aaron Cresswell, Maxwel Cornet and Danny Ings to call upon, along with former Republic of Ireland U21 captain Conor Coventry.
West Ham United: Areola, Johnson, Mavropanos, Ogbonna ©, Emerson, Álvarez, Ward-Prowse, Souček, Fornals, Benrahma, Bowen
Subs: Fabiański (GK), Cresswell, Casey, Laing, Coventry, Orford, Cornet, Ings, Mubama
Brighton & Hove Albion: Steele, Milner, Webster, van Hecke, Estupiñán, Groß ©, Hinshelwood, Buonanotte, Gilmour, Joâo Pedro, Welbeck
Subs: Verbruggen (GK), Kavanagh, Samuels, Moder, Dahoud, Baleba, Lallana, Baker-Boaitey, Ferguson
Referee: Sam Barrott
