Team News: Declan Rice returns from injury to start at Brighton & Hove Albion

Declan Rice


Declan Rice returns from injury to start against Brighton & Hove Albion, with Angelo Ogbonna and Jarrod Bowen also restored to West Ham United’s starting eleven.

Once again wearing the captain’s armband, Rice has been out of action since suffering a knee injury on international duty with England at the end of March, but will make his return in Saturday's crucial game at the Amex Stadium.

Making way for Rice, Ogbonna and Bowen are Manuel Lanzini, Issa Diop and Said Benrahma – the latter two named amongst David Moyes’ substitutes for the contest.

Club captain Mark Noble, meanwhile, is also back in the match-day squad, having missed his side's last two games - the win over Burnley and defeat to Everton - through injury. The No16 starts the game on the bench.

Expected to line up ahead of goalkeeper Lukasz Fabianski, therefore, will be defenders Vladimir Coufal, Ogbonna, Craig Dawson and Aaron Cresswell.

Rice is back in a midfield axis with Tomáš Souček, supporting an attacking midfield trio comprising newly-crowned Premier League Player of the Month Jesse Lingard, Pablo Fornals and Bowen. 

Michail Antonio will lead the attack, with the No30 just three goals away from becoming West Ham United’s all-time Premier League top goalscorer outright.

Among his options from the bench, Moyes can call upon defenders Ryan Fredericks, Ben Johnson, Fabian Balbuena and Diop, as well as midfielder Noble and attacking talents Benrahma, Ukraine international Andriy Yarmolenko and Premier League 2 Player of the Month nominee Mipo Odubeko.

West Ham United:  Fabianski, Coufal, Ogbonna, Dawson, Cresswell, Rice (c), Souček, Bowen, Lingard, Fornals, Antonio
Subs: Randolph (GK), Fredericks, Johnson, Balbuena, Diop, Noble, Benrahma, Yarmolenko, Odubeko

Brighton & Hove Albion: Sánchez, White, Webster, Burn, Moder, Groß (c), Bissouma, Alzate, Jahanbakhsh, Trossard, Welbeck
Subs: Steele (GK), Karbownik, Tau, Caicedo, Mac Allister, Lallana, Connolly, Andone, Zeqiri

Referee: Andre Marriner