Team news: Soucek starts for West Ham against Newcastle

Tomas Soucek


Tomas Soucek starts for West Ham United in their Premier League season opener against Newcastle United on Saturday.

The Czech international lines up in midfield alongside Mark Noble and Declan Rice as the Hammers look to make a winning start to the 2020/21 campaign.

Soucek scored against the Magpies when David Moyes' men travelled to the north east in July, and the other West Ham goalscorer in that 2-2 draw, Michail Antonio, also starts.

Ryan Fredericks, Issa Diop, Angelo Ogbonna and Aaron Cresswell line-up at the back, in front of Lukasz Fabianski, who helped Poland to a UEFA Nations League victory over Bosnia & Herzegovina in midweek.

January signing Jarrod Bowen and Pablo Fornals support Antonio in attack, with the likes of Manuel Lanzini, Andriy Yarmolenko, Felipe Anderson and Sebastien Haller providing options from the bench.

West Ham United: Fabianski, Fredericks, Diop, Ogbonna, Cresswell, Rice, Soucek, Bowen, Noble (c), Fornals, Antonio
Subs: Randolph, Johnson, Balbuena, Lanzini, Yarmolenko, Felipe Anderson, Haller

Newcastle United: Darlow, Manquillo, Lascelles (c), Fernandez, Lewis, Saint-Maximin, Hendrick, Shelvey, Hayden, Carroll, Wilson
Subs: Gillespie, Krafth, Longstaff, Ritchie, Fraser, Almiron, Joelinton

Referee: Stuart Attwell