West Ham United manager Sam Allardyce has handed full debuts to four youngsters for their FA Cup third-round trip to Nottingham Forest this afternoon.
Due to his long injury list and a primary focus on the Premier League, Allardyce has rested some of the big names who were available to him and has put his faith in George Moncur, Danny Whitehead, Callum Driver and Sebastian Lletget, who all make their first start for the club.
Driver will partner makeshift centre-back Alou Diarra in the middle of defence, while Whitehead, Moncur and American Lletget will all start in midfield behind loan striker Modibo Maiga.
Goalkeeper Adrian, Ravel Morrison and Matt Jarvis are the other senior men to feature, while Stewart Downing, who may be asked to fill in at left-back, is stand-in captain for the Hammers, whose bench includes seven more untried rookies.
Forest may be sensing a potential scalp as manager Billy Davies fields a strong team, making just two changes to the side that drew with Reading on New Year's Day, a result which extended their unbeaten Championship run to seven matches.
Guy Moussi and Djamel Abdoun return in midfield, with Nathaniel Chalobah and Jamie Mackie making way, while Greg Halford, a defender by trade, continues to deputise as a makeshift striker after scoring three goals in three games.
Forest: Darlow; Lichaj, Hobbs, Lascelles, Jara; Paterson, Moussi, Lansbury, Reid, Abdoun; Halford
Subs: Harding, Mackie, Miller, Evtimov, Derbyshire, Majewski, Cox
West Ham: Adrian; Potts, Driver, Diarra, Downing; Jarvis, Moncur, Morrison, Whitehead, Lletget; Maiga
Subs: Spiegel, Lee, Turgott, Fanimo, Maguire, Gordon, Burke
Joe Fish
