Chelsea boss Enzo Maresca, who spent nearly two years at West Ham as an assistant, says this of his decision to start Sancho. “It was not simple because we have more players. But we decided on Jadon and hope it is the right decision.”
So it’s a first Chelsea start for Jadon Sancho. He did well coming off the bench at Bournemouth so Enzo Maresca feels it’s worth putting the winger in from the start.
Enzo Fernandez returns in midfield while Tosin gets a first top-flight start in the Chelsea rearguard. Renato Veiga, Pedro Neto and Axel Disasi all drop to the bench.
For West Ham, there’s also a debut for a wideman as new signing Crysenscio Summerville gets the nod. Lucas Paqueta returns as expected, with Tomas Soucek and Michail Antonio the two to make way from the XI who started in the 1-1 draw at Fulham last week.
West Ham: Areola, Wan-Bissaka, Mavropanos, Kilman, Emerson, Alvarez, Rodriguez, Paqueta, Summerville, Bowen, Kudus.
Subs: Fabianski, Cresswell, Soler, Coufal, Antonio, Ings, Todibo, Soucek, Irving.
Chelsea: Sanchez, Fofana, Tosin, Colwill, Cucurella, Caicedo, Enzo Fernandez, Madueke, Palmer, Sancho, Jackson.
Subs: Jorgensen, Badiashile, Disasi, Veiga, Dewsbury-Hall, Neto, Mudryk, Joao Felix, Nkunku.