Team News: Noble, Bowen and Johnson start at Old Trafford


West Ham United manager David Moyes has made three changes to his starting eleven for Sunday’s trip to face Manchester United at Old Trafford.

In the same week that Mark Noble signed his final one-year contract for West Ham, the Club captain returns to the Irons’ starting eleven.

The 33-year-old is joined by forward Jarrod Bowen and fellow Academy of Football graduate Ben Johnson as the other returnees to Moyes’ team, who are seeking a ninth win in 12 Premier League games.

Making way for the trio are attacking midfielders Jesse Lingard – who is ineligible to face his parent club in the Premier League; Saïd Benrahma – named amongst the substitutes; and Pablo Fornals.

Goalkeeper Lukasz Fabianski also starts in the same week that the Poland international extended his stay with the Club until the summer of 2022.

In front of him the Irons are expected to return to three at the back, with wing-backs Vladimír Coufal and Johnson likely to flank a defensive trio of Craig Dawson, Issa Diop and Aaron Cresswell. 

Noble will wear the skipper’s armband on his 521st appearance for his boyhood Club, and will be joined in central midfield by vice-captain Declan Rice and Tomáš Souček - the latter having scored against the Red Devils in the reverse fixture at London Stadium in December.

Out to provide offensive threat will be a dynamic duo of Michail Antonio – who netted at Old Trafford on the Irons’ previous Premier League visit, a 1-1 draw back in July 2020 – and the restored Bowen.

On the substitutes’ bench are goalkeepers David Martin and Nathan Trott; defenders Fabian Balbuena and Frederik Alves; midfielder Conor Coventry; playmakers Manuel Lanzini and Benrahma; and striker Mipo Odubeko.

West Ham United: Fabianski, Dawson, Diop, Cresswell, Coufal, Rice, Soucek, Johnson, Noble (c), Antonio, Bowen
Subs: Martin, Trott, Balbuena, Alves, Lanzini, Coventry, Benrahma, Odubeko

Manchester United: Henderson, Wan-Bissaka, Lindelof, Maguire (c), Shaw, McTominay, Fred, Greenwood, Fernandes, James, Rashford
Subs: Grant, Bishop, Bailly, Telles, Williams, Tuanzebe, Matic, Diallo, Shoretire

Referee: Martin Atkinson