Nayef Aguerd will make his West Ham United debut after he was named in our starting XI for Thursday evening’s UEFA Europa Conference League Group B tie with Silkeborg IF at London Stadium.
The No27, who has been out of action since he sustained an ankle injury in a pre-season friendly against Rangers in Scotland on 19 July, is one of nine changes from our 2-0 Premier League win over AFC Bournemouth on Monday evening.
As the Irons look for a fifth straight victory in Group B and a sixth consecutive home victory in all competitions, only Ben Johnson and Saïd Benrahma are retained from Monday’s triumph.
Aguerd and Johnson will be joined in defence by Vladimír Coufal, Emerson and Angelo Ogbonna, who skippers the Irons for the fourth time in his Claret and Blue career.
Needing a point from our final two matches to secure top-spot in successive European group-stage campaigns, Republic of Ireland U21 international Conor Coventry, Manuel Lanzini and Pablo Fornals are recalled to the starting XI, while Michail Antonio will lead the line in east London.
Looking for a third clean sheet of the group stage, Alphonse Areola is retained as the Irons’ European goalkeeper.
The Academy of Football is represented on the bench, too, with Hungary U21 goalkeeper Krisztián Hegyi and midfielders Keenan Appiah-Forson and Freddie Potts among the options available to David Moyes in east London.
Looking to repeat our 3-2 win at Silkeborg in the reverse fixture in Denmark in September, summer signings Gianluca Scamacca, Flynn Downes, and Thilo Kehrer complete the matchday squad alongside Declan Rice, Tomáš Souček and Darren Randolph.
Scamacca was among our scorers at JYSK park, where Lanzini and the absent Craig Dawson also found the net during a thrilling 90 minutes.
There is a change among the original match officials for tonight's tie, with assistant Sami Nykänen out injured and being replaced by fellow Finn Jan-Peter Aravirta.
West Ham United: Areola, Coufal, Johnson, Aguerd, Ogbonna ©, Emerson, Lanzini, Coventry, Fornals, Antonio, Benrahma
Subs: Randolph (GK), Hegyi (GK), Zouma, Kehrer, Cresswell, Souček, Potts, Rice, Downes, Appiah-Forson, Scamacca
Silkeborg IF: Larsen, Østrøm, Salquist, Felix, Klitten, Þórðarson, Gojani, Klynge, Tengstedt, Jørgensen, Helenius ©
Subs: Hedvall (GK), Andrésen (GK), Mattsson, Kusk, Lind, Kaalund, A.Dahl, Adamsen, Oggesen, Calisir, Engel, Busch
Referee: Joni Hyytiä (Finland)
