West Ham United manager David Moyes makes six changes to his starting line-up for Thursday night’s UEFA Europa Conference League quarter-final first leg at KAA Gent.
Fresh from defeating Fulham in the Premier League last weekend, the Hammers will be looking to extend their perfect record of ten wins from ten European games this term.
Leading the line will be Danny Ings, who starts a continental tie for the first time in Irons colours, supported by the Club’s record European goalscorer Jarrod Bowen.
Behind them, Alphonse Areola starts his 22nd game in European competition for West Ham, while Vladimír Coufal and Angelo Ogbonna retain their places in the backline, following Saturday’s clean sheet at Craven Cottage.
They will be joined by Ben Johnson, Nayef Aguerd and Emerson as the manager opts for a wing-back system at KAA Gent Stadium.
Declan Rice skippers the team in midfield, where he will be flanked by Flynn Downes, who returns from a one-game European suspension, and Manuel Lanzini.
The No10 has started all ten of the Hammers’ Europa Conference League ties to date this term and will be seeking a third goal.
Among the Irons’ 12 substitutes are Pablo Fornals – who will hope to add to his Club-record 22 European appearances – and a wealth of full internationals in Łukasz Fabiański, Aaron Cresswell, Thilo Kehrer, Tomáš Souček, Paquetâ, Saïd Benrahma, Maxwel Cornet and Michail Antonio. Divin Mubama, who notched a hat-trick in the FA Youth Cup semi-final victory over Southampton last week, also gets a chance on the bench.
West Ham United: Areola, Coufal, Johnson, Aguerd, Ogbonna, Emerson, Rice ©, Downes, Lanzini, Bowen, Ings
Subs: Fabiański (GK), Anang (GK), Cresswell, Kehrer, Zouma, Souček, Fornals, Paquetá, Benrahma, Cornet, Mubama, Antonio
KAA Gent: Roef, Castro-Montes, Piatkowski, Okumu, Torunarigha, Hong, Kums ©, De Sart, Fofana, Cuypers, Orban
Subs: Nardi (GK), Odjidja-Ofoe, Hauge, Lagae, Samoise, Núrio Fortuna, Depoitre, Godeau, Tissoudali
Referee: Tesos Sidiropolous (Greece)
