Mohammed Kudus and Konstantinos Mavropanos make their Carabao Cup debuts in West Ham United’s third-round tie at Lincoln City on Wednesday evening.
The Ghana attacker and Greece defender both start at LNER Stadium, six days on from their impressive full debuts in the UEFA Europa League Group A victory over FK TSC.
Kudus scored two goals on the night against the Serbian side, while Mavropanos was impressive on his first appearance in Claret and Blue.
Indeed, eight of the players who started against TSC are in David Moyes’ team this evening.
Łukasz Fabiański makes his first appearance in the competition for the Irons, and his first for any club since starting Arsenal’s fourth-round defeat by Chelsea in October 2013.
Thilo Kehrer also debuts in the Carabao Cup, having not featured in last season’s third-round defeat by Blackburn Rovers.
Completing the back four are Angelo Ogbonna, who captains the side with Kurt Zouma being rested, and Ben Johnson, who starts at left-back.
The midfielder will be anchored by Tomáš Souček, with Pablo Fornals playing alongside him.
Kudus could start on the right, as he did against TSC, with Saïd Benrahma potentially filling the No10 position and birthday boy Maxwel Cornet, who turns 27 today, on the left wing.
Danny Ings, who has scored nine goals in 15 appearances in this tournament for Burnley, Liverpool, Southampton and Aston Villa, looks for his first in Hammers colours as he leads the line in Lincolnshire.
The substitutes’ bench has a youthful look about it, with Academy prospects Kaelan Casey, Dan Chesters, Divin Mubama and Callum Marshall all named.
Northern Ireland international striker Marshall has been a revelation for the Academy since joining from Linfield in January 2022, scoring 39 goals in 57 games for the U21s and U18s, and winning both the FA Youth Cup and U18 Premier League South title last season.
Also 18 and a double winner last season, Mubama has already made six first-team appearances and scored in the UEFA Europa Conference League round of 16 second-leg win over AEK Larnaca in March this year.
Another Academy double winner, 18-year-old defender Casey scored in the FA Youth Cup final, having made his first-team debut in a Conference League group-stage victory over FCSB in Romania last November.
Versatile Chesters, 21, also featured in that win over AEK Larnaca, having made his first-team debut in a Premier League defeat at Liverpool in March 2022.
Former Lincoln loanee Conor Coventry, who made seven EFL League One appearances for the Imps in 2019/20, is also among the nine potential replacements.
Lincoln City: Jensen, Sørensen, Mitchell, O’Connor ©, Roughan, Burroughs, Erhahon, Hamilton, Hackett, Smith, Adelakun
Subs: Wright (GK), Brown, Jackson, Bishop, Duffy, Eyoma, Makama
West Ham United: Fabiański, Kehrer, Mavropanos, Ogbonna ©, Johnson, Souček, Fornals, Benrahma, Kudus, Cornet, Ings
Subs: Anang (GK), Coufal, Aguerd, Casey, Álvarez, Coventry, Chesters, Mubama, Marshall
Referee: Josh Smith
