Łukasz Fabiański moves into outright tenth place in West Ham United’s all-time Premier League appearance makers with a start against Tottenham Hotspur on Tuesday evening.
The former Poland international replaces groin injury victim Alphonse Areola in goal, as he did for the reverse fixture against Spurs in north London in December.
Fabiański played superbly that evening as West Ham won 2-1 in N17, and the former Arsenal stopper will be seeking his seventh career victory over Tottenham, and fifth since joining the Irons in 2018.
On what will be his 23rd appearance against tonight’s opponents – more than he has made against any other club - the 38-year-old will move onto 178 Premier League appearances for the Hammers, which is one more than fellow goalkeeper Robert Green and winger Trevor Sinclair.
Overall, Fabiański has made 358 Premier League appearances for Arsenal, Swansea City and West Ham, keeping clean sheets and playing his part in 137 wins.
In front of him, the back four has a familiar look, with Vladimír Coufal, captain Kurt Zouma, Dinos Mavropanos and Emerson starting together for the fourth time in the last five Premier League matches.
With Edson Álvarez serving the second game of a two-match ban for being booked ten times in the top-flight, Tomáš Souček and James Ward-Prowse will partner one another in central midfield. Souček needs one goal to reach ten for the season in all competitions.
Ward-Prowse will hope to add to the goal he scored in the 2-1 win at Tottenham Hotspur in December and to his joint-team leading seven assists. Six of those assists have come from set pieces, which is more any other Premier League player in 2023/24.
The No7 was joined on seven assists by Coufal in Hammers’ previous home game against Aston Villa, and the Czech needs just one more to set his own single-season record.
The front four were in superb form at Newcastle United on Saturday, where Jarrod Bowen and Mohammed Kudus each recorded a goal and assist after Lucas Paquetá had provided the through ball for Michail Antonio’s first-half equaliser.
Bowen, who also scored at Spurs in December, needs one more goal to equal Paolo Di Canio’s Club Premier League record of 16 in a season and become the first West Ham player since Marlon Harewood in 2004/05 to reach 20 in a season.
With Kudus also on 13 in all competitions, one goal for Souček tonight would make it the second season in succession that three Hammers have scored double figures in all competitions. Last term, Antonio, Bowen and Saïd Benrahma all did so. Prior to that, it was the 2011/12 promotion-winning season when Carlton Cole, Kevin Nolan and Ricardo Vaz Tê all hit double figures.
Antonio himself makes his 299th appearance for the Club, and the Irons’ all-time leading Premier League marksman will be seeking his 66th goal in the top-flight and 80th in all competitions.
With Areola absent, Joseph Anang is the substitute goalkeeper and he is joined on the bench by Aaron Cresswell, Ben Johnson, Angelo Ogbonna, Kalvin Phillips, Maxwel Cornet, Danny Ings and teenagers George Earthy and Divin Mubama. Nayef Aguerd is again ruled out as he recovers from a shoulder injury.
West Ham United: Fabiański, Coufal, Mavropanos, Zouma ©, Emerson, Ward-Prowse, Souček, Paquetá, Kudus, Bowen, Antonio
Subs: Anang (GK), Johnson, Cresswell, Ogbonna, Phillips, Earthy, Cornet, Ings, Mubama
Tottenham Hotspur: Vicario, Porro, Romero, Van der Ven, Udogie, Bissouma, Bentancur, Johnson, Maddison, Son ©, Werner
Subs: Austin (GK), Drăgușin, Davies, Emerson Royal, Højbjerg, Sarr, Lo Celso, Kulusevski, Richarlison
Referee: John Brooks
