Mohammed Kudus makes his full West Ham United debut and Konstantinos Mavropanos his first appearance in Claret and Blue as the Irons kick-off their 2023/24 UEFA Europa League campaign.
The Hammers welcome Serbian SuperLiga leaders FK TSC Bačka Topola to London Stadium for their Group A opener, 106 days after lifting the UEFA Europa Conference League trophy on an historic night in Prague.
Just two of the players who started that night, goalscorer Saïd Benrahma and Lucas Paquetá, are named in David Moyes’ side this evening, with three more who appeared as substitutes – Thilo Kehrer, Angelo Ogbonna and Pablo Fornals – also start.
Ghana star Kudus, Greece defender Mavropanos and James Ward-Prowse all make their first European appearances for the Club, with Mavropanos featuring for the first time since completing a transfer from VfL Stuttgart a month ago.
Kudus, meanwhile, has already scored a hat-trick in this season’s Europa League, for Ajax in a play-off round win over Ludogorets in Bulgaria on 24 August, just three days before swapping Amsterdam for London.
Ward-Prowse’s last appearance in the Europa League was in December 2016, when he was part of a Southampton side eliminated at the group-stage, despite recording home wins over Sparta Prague and Inter Milan.
Moyes’ side is completed by Łukasz Fabiański, the 38-year-old Polish goalkeeper who makes just his second European appearance for the Club, and first since starting the opening Group H tie in Dinamo Zagreb in September 2021.
The back four is comprised of Kehrer, Mavropanos, captain Ogbonna and Aaron Cresswell, who like Fabiański is making his first appearance of the 2023/24 season.
Alongside Paquetá and Ward-Prowse in midfield is Pablo Fornals, who becomes the Club’s all-time leading appearance-maker with 27 to his name.
And Kudus and Benrahma will support Danny Ings in attack, with the England striker hoping to add to the goal he netted in the Conference League quarter-final first-leg draw at KAA Gent in Belgium last season.
Seven other starters from Prague – Areola, Coufal, Emerson, Zouma, Aguerd, Souček and Antonio – are named among the 12 substitutes, while matchwinner Jarrod Bowen is absent with an illness.
West Ham United: Fabiański, Kehrer, Mavropanos, Ogbonna ©, Cresswell, Paquetá, Ward-Prowse, Fornals, Benrahma, Kudus, Ings
Subs: Areola (GK), Anang (GK), Coufal, Johnson, Emerson, Zouma, Aguerd, Coventry, Souček, Cornet, Antonio, Mubama
FK TSC Bačka Topola: Simić, Cvetković, Antonić ©, Đorđević, Petrović, Radin, Đakovac, Stojić, Kuveljić, Stanić, Jovanović
Subs: Ilić (GK), Jorgić (GK), Milovanović, Mirchevski, Pantović, Ćirković, Vulić, Krstić, Vlalukin, Sós, Rakonjac
Referee: Filip Glova (Slovakia)
