David Moyes has confirmed that Łukasz Fabiański will start in goal for West Ham United in their UEFA Europa League opener against FK TSC Bačka Topola on Thursday night.
The Poland goalkeeper has had to be content with a place on the bench during the opening month of the campaign, with Alphonse Areola starting between the posts in the Premier League.
However, with the Hammers returning to continental competition for a third year in a row, 38-year-old Fabiański will be given hid chance under the London Stadium lights.
Fabiański has only appeared in one European game in Claret and Blue – our 2-0 win at GNK Dinamo Zagreb in September 2021 – but is not lacking in experience on this stage, having played 21 times previously in UEFA competition for Legia Warsaw and Arsenal.
So Moyes says he is deserving of his chance to line-up against the Serbian SuperLiga side.
“Łukasz Fabiański will play tomorrow night,” the boss said. “He has been a brilliant goalkeeper for us and has done very little wrong to be out of the side, but we felt I had to make a decision – when we brought ‘Phonse here we said he’d eventually move in front of Łukasz.
“His form has been so, so good for the last few years so it has been hard to do that, but we made that decision [at the start of this season].”
Elsewhere, the Hammers will have a clean bill of health on Thursday, with only Edson Álvarez missing due to a one-match European suspsension carried over from Ajax’s Europa League campaign last year.
Although the Mexico international was susbstituted in the second half of Saturday’s Premier League loss to Manchester City, Moyes added that was due to fatigue and not because of any injury.
Several players will be eagerly awaiting their opportunities on Thursday with Moyes excited by the competition within his squad.
“Edson Álvarez is suspended, but everyone else is fit and available to play on Thursday,” the manager added.
“Edson is still getting used to the 90 minutes of the Premier League and what that entails. He’s been fatigued in a few games late on and he was at the weekend, but he had also been booked earlier in the game which was on my mind too. But he’s fine, he’s fit and healthy and all well.”
“I like what I see from Mohammed Kudus. I think he looks a really good player and from what we’ve seen before that’s why we bought him.
“Hopefully he’ll get an opportunity to show what he can do over the next few weeks, but we have to give some of them time to settle in.
“Thankfully Edson and James Ward-Prowse have settled in really quickly, Mo came in right at the end of the window and we’ve got to give him a bit of time and not expect too much too soon.
“We’ve got more competition for places and it’s great that everybody’s fit because it means everybody is looking forward to playing.
“They have to show what tbey can do, the opportunities will come for them in games and we’re going to need it, because we’re in a really tough set of games again."
