David Moyes has named his West Ham United team for tonight’s UEFA Europa League quarter-final second-leg tie at Olympique Lyonnais.
The Scot has made four changes from the side which started the 1-1 first-leg draw at London Stadium last Thursday night.
Three of those changes come in defence, where Moyes replaces the injured Kurt Zouma with his fellow Frenchman Issa Diop and swaps out his full-backs, with Vladimír Coufal and Ben Johnson coming into the team in place of Ryan Fredericks and the suspended Aaron Cresswell.
Diop and Dawson have started together 18 times this season in all competitions, keeping eight clean sheets and helping the Irons earn ten victories.
Among the games the pair started together were the Carabao Cup wins over Manchester United and Manchester City (on penalties) and the home Premier League victory over Chelsea. In the Europa League, their partnership has garnered three clean sheets and three victories from four Group H matches.
The fourth alteration comes in attacking midfield, where Manuel Lanzini returns from his one-match suspension to start, while Saïd Benrahma joins Fredericks on the substitutes’ bench.
Alphonse Areola starts in goal behind a defence comprising Coufal, Diop, Johnson and Craig Dawson.
Captain Declan Rice anchors the midfield alongside Tomáš Souček, continuing the partnership that has served West Ham superbly in all competitions since the Czech Republic star’s arrival in January 2020.
Further forward, Lanzini will fill the No10 position, flanked by in-form first-leg scorer Jarrod Bowen and the man whose interception led to his goal, Pablo Fornals.
Michail Antonio leads the line up front.
Joining Fredericks and Benrahma on the substitutes’ bench are goalkeepers Łukasz Fabiański and Darren Randolph, defender Aji Alese, wing-back Arthur Masuaku, Club captain Mark Noble and fellow central midfielder Alex Král, attacking midfielders Nikola Vlašić and Dan Chesters and forwards Andriy Yarmolenko and Sonny Perkins.
Noble returns after missing Sunday's Premier League fixture at Brentford with an illness.
Souček, Coufal and Král reached the quarter-finals of the Europa League with Slavia Prague in 2018/19 and all three started the second leg against Chelsea at Stamford Bridge, where Souček starred and scored in a thrilling 4-3 defeat that saw Slavia eliminated 5-3 on aggregate.
Ukraine captain Yarmolenko, of course, scored the winning goal as West Ham defeated Sevilla 2-1 on aggregate in the round 16 courtesy of a 2-0 second-leg win at London Stadium.
Lyon manager Peter Bosz has made three changes, with injured goalkeeper Anthony Lopes, centre-back Jérôme Boateng and attacking midfielder Lucas Paquetá missing out. In come German stopper Julian Pollersback, Belgium defender Jason Denayer and attacker Karl Toko Ekambi.
West Ham United: Areola, Coufal, Dawson, Diop, Johnson, Rice ©, Souček, Bowen, Lanzini, Fornals, Antonio
Subs: Fabiański (GK), Randolph (GK), Fredericks, Alese, Masuaku, Noble, Král, Chesters, Vlašić, Benrahma, Yarmolenko, Perkins
Olympique Lyonnais: Pollersback, Gusto, Denayer, Lukeba, Emerson, Mendes, Faivre, Toko Ekambi, Aouar, Ndombélé, Dembélé ©
Subs: M.Barcola (GK), Bonnevie (GK), Lucas Paqueta, Kadewere, Henrique, Dubois, Keïta, Tetê, Da Silva, Reine-Adélaïde, B.Barcola, Boateng
Referee: Sandro Schärer (SUI)
