David Moyes has named his West Ham starting XI to take on Eintracht Frankfurt this evening in the Europa League semi-final first leg at the London Stadium.
The Hammers have faced a defensive crisis of late with three of their four senior centre-backs carrying injuries. Angelo Ogbonna has been out since November while Issa Diop picked up an ankle problem against Burnley in the Premier League. Kurt Zouma, a £30million summer signing from Chelsea, is making good progress returning from an ankle injury, though Moyes said he would not be risking players by starting them against Frankfurt tonight.
“I wouldn't rush anybody back," he told reporters on Wednesday. “We've got most people available at the weekend available again, and we've got some people making good recoveries, but we don't know if they'll be ready yet. We could do with some central defenders getting fit, that's for sure, but that's the way it's been. We're getting to the business end and we really could do with our best players. We've been quite short, but great credit to the group of players for how they've done to get to this stage.”
READ MORE: West Ham vs Eintracht Frankfurt LIVE: Kurt Zouma returns for Hammers as Rice, Bowen start
Despite his hesitancy to rush players back, Moyes has decided to start Zouma tonight, with the Frenchman slotting into the backline along with Craig Dawson, Ben Johnson and Aaron Cresswell.
Declan Rice skippers the side from midfield alongside Tomas Soucek. Jarrod Bowen, Manuel Lanzini and Pablo Fornals then create a formidable forward line, with Michail Antonio ahead of them leading the line this evening.
Attacking support from the bench will come in the form of Said Benrahma and Andriy Yarmolenko, the latter being West Ham's top goalscorer in the competition so far this season with three goals. Mark Noble is also on the bench along with Alex Kral and Nikola Vlasic should Moyes wish to call upon them.
West Ham XI: Areola, Johnson, Zouma, Dawson, Cresswell, Rice, Soucek, Bowen, Lanzini, Fornals, Antonio.
Substitutes: Fabianski, Randolph, Alese, Coufal, Masuaku, Fredericks, Kral, Noble, Chesters, Vlasic, Benrahama, Yarmolenko.
