West Ham United make two changes for Sunday afternoon’s Premier League derby at Tottenham Hotspur, with Flynn Downes and Tomáš Souček recalled to the starting XI.
The Czech international scored the equaliser in the 1-1 draw between the clubs at London Stadium earlier this season, while Downes will make his first Premier League start since the Hammers’ trip to Manchester United last October.
The inclusion of Downes and Souček means Saïd Benrahma drops to a substitutes’ bench that also seats the returning Gianluca Scamacca. The Italy striker makes his first matchday squad since the Irons’ 2-2 draw against Leeds United in January - a fixture in which he netted his seventh goal for the Club.
Paquetá is the other player to make way from the 1-1 draw with Chelsea, with the Brazil midfielder's absence from the matchday squad due to injury confirmed by David Moyes earlier this week.
In front of Łukasz Fabiański, who kept his 40th clean sheet for the Club in the 2-0 win over Everton, the defence remains unchanged for successive London derbies.
Looking to extend the Club’s Premier League unbeaten run to four matches, Vladimír Coufal and Emerson are deployed as the Irons’ wing-backs for the fourth straight league fixture. The Italy international netted his first Premier League goal against the Blues last weekend, while Coufal hunts his first Club goal at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium today.
Alongside Coufal and Emerson, a settled back three sees Thilo Kehrer, Nayef Aguerd, and Angelo Ogbonna seek the Irons’ fourth clean sheet in 2023.
Further forward, skipper Declan Rice, who moves one game shy of 225 senior Club appearances, will be joined by Downes and Souček in midfield, while Michail Antonio and Jarrod Bowen spearhead the Hammers’ attack.
The No9 will be buoyed by a record of scoring in four of the Club’s last five league wins against Spurs, while Bowen scored in a narrow EFL Cup quarter-final defeat at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in December 2021.
Alongside Behrama and Scamacca, an attacking bench also includes a mix of experience and youth. Manuel Lanzini, Pablo Fornals, and Danny Ings are included alongside Aaron Cresswell. The vice-skipper returns to the matchday squad after missing the fixture against Chelsea last time out.
Academy of Football graduates Ben Johnson and 18-year-old Kaelan Casey complete the matchday squad. Casey featured from the bench in the Irons’ 3-0 win over FCSB in the UEFA Europa Conference League in November last year but would make his Premier League debut for the Club he joined as a five-year-old should he feature in north London.
Tottenham Hotspur: Forster, Royal, Romero, Dier, Lenglet, Davies, Skipp, Højbjerg, Kulusevski, Richarlison, Kane ©
Subs: Austin (GK), Porro, Tanganga, Sánchez, Sarr, Perisic, Danjuma, Moura, Son
West Ham United: Fabiański, Coufal, Kehrer, Ogbonna, Aguerd, Emerson, Rice ©, Souček, Downes, Bowen, Antonio
Subs: Areola (GK), Johnson, Cresswell, Scamacca, Fornals, Ings, Benrahma, Casey
Referee: Michael Oliver
