Kurt Zouma, Vladimír Coufal and Lucas Paquetá return to the West Ham United team for Sunday’s Emirates FA Cup third-round tie with Bristol City at London Stadium.
Captain Zouma has recovered from a knee injury, Coufal is healthy again after overcoming an injury and Paquetá is available after recovering from the calf injury he suffered at Arsenal on December 28.
Zouma has been an FA Cup finalist three times, as part of the Chelsea teams beaten by Arsenal in 2017 and 2020 and by Leicester City in 2021. Emerson was also an unused replacement for Chelsea in the 2020 and 2021 finals.
Skipper Zouma, Coufal and Paquetá come on to face the Robins, while Angelo Ogbonna, Ben Johnson and Saïd Benrahma are the three players on the bench.
He is the fourth replacement for the midweek draw with Brighton in the Premier League.
Coufal won the Czech Republic Cup with Slovan Liberec and Slavia Prague before signing for West Ham, while compatriot Tomáš Souček did the same twice for Slavia.
Edson Alvarez has also had good luck in the Dutch national cup, having won the KNVB Cup with Ajax in 2021.
Fabiański is playing in the FA Cup for the 22nd time in his career, but it is the 3rd for the Hammers, having played the tournament once with Swansea City and 16 times with Arsenal.
On the other hand, Dinos Mavropanos make their debut this afternoon in the FA Cup, alongside Zouma in the centre of defence, with Coufal and Emerson in full-back positions.
Álvarez and Souček will be joined in midfield by James Ward-Prowse, who scored on his FA Cup debut for Southampton in a third round win at Coventry City, exactly 11 years ago today, January 7, 2012. Since then, he has appeared at the festival 29 times and scored in Saints’ third round wins against Crystal Palace last season, Shrewsbury Town in 2021 and Fulham in 2018.
The top three will consist of Paquetá, Pablo Fornals and top scorer Jarrod Bowen, who has scored thirteen goals in all competitions this season. Bowen scored three FA Cup goals for West Ham, one in last season’s fourth-round win at Derby County. and in third- and fourth-round wins over Leeds United and Kidderminster Harries in 2022.
Referee: Graham Scott
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