West Ham United will be looking to return to winning ways on Sunday night against Manchester United in the Premier League.
The Hammers host the Red Devils at the London Stadium having lost each of their last three Premier League matches against Liverpool, Crystal Palace and Manchester City, sitting in 15th place and clear of the Premier League’s relegation zone by just four points with four games to go.
Ahead of West Ham’s third meeting this season against one of Moyes’ former employers, here is a look at West Ham’s current list of injury concerns.
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Gianluca Scamacca (knee)
Striker Gianluca Scamacca has not featured since March’s home win over AEK Larnaca due to a knee injury.
Following the issue, having had a number of knee problems in recent months, Scamacca underwent knee surgery last month.
Scamacca was expected to miss two to three months of action once the surgery took place, which at the time, would have meant he is set to miss the rest of the season, even if West Ham reached the final of the Europa Conference League, taking place on June 7.
However, speaking ahead of the defeat to Liverpool last month in his pre-match press conference last month, Moyes suggested that there was a chance Scamacca may recover in time to be involved this season, although he stated there was no guarantee.
“Maybe, maybe. We’ve not got him back,” said Moyes. “He’s had his operation, we’ve not got him back yet. With a bit of luck, my head is planning that I’m going to be here until June 7, and that’s what I’ve got to try and hope so who knows whether or not Gianluca might get back for that.
“At the moment, I would say he’s not doing anything, he’s recovering from his operation but you know, we’re probably six weeks away from that, maybe longer.”
Kurt Zouma (ankle)
In last month’s defeat to Palace, centre-back Zouma was forced off shortly after Jordan Ayew made it 1-1 in the game after suffering ligament damage to his ankle.
The Frenchman left the ground in a protective boot and missed Wednesday’s 3-0 loss to Manchester City with the issue.
Speaking ahead of that defeat to City, Moyes said that while they were awaiting a full prognosis, Zouma was expected to miss “a few weeks,” which keep him out for much of the Hammers’ remaining games this season.
“Kurt Zouma is the biggest fear, we think we might lose Kurt for a few weeks, but we’re still sort of assessing his ankle at the minute,” said Moyes.
“I wouldn’t want to say just now because I’m not the medical man, but Kurt is a bit different.
“Kurt is incredibly good at getting himself ready and back fit. We’re hoping he will be fine.”
Vladimir Coufal (hamstring)
Right-back Vladimir Coufal was forced off in the second half of the loss to City after pulling up with a hamstring issue after making a cross during the game at the Etihad Stadium.
Coufal has been a regular feature for the Hammers in their recent hectic schedule, starting each of their last eight games between April 8 and May 3, a timespan of just 25 days.
Speaking on it at full-time, Moyes told football.london that Coufal’s issue will be assessed by the club’s medical team on Thursday morning.
“He felt his hamstring, so we’re not sure,” said Moyes. “We’ll get him scanned in the morning, we’ll see how he is.”
Declan Rice (illness)
Captain Declan Rice missed a Premier League match for the first time in 14 months as one of three players forced to withdraw from the squad hours before kick-off with an illness.
Speaking on it after the game, Moyes said that all three players, including Rice, were sent home on the day of the game due to illnesses, with one suspected to have a virus, and the other two potentially suffering with food poisoning, with a member of staff also absent with the illness.
Posting on his Instagram story ahead of kick-off, Rice said he was suffering from a sickness bug, first sustained on Tuesday night.
“Gutted to be missing tonight’s match. Picked up a sickness bug yesterday and has carried on throughout the night/today. Wishing the boys the best of luck. Come on @WestHam,” Rice posted on his Instagram story, followed by an emoji of a love heart.
Tomas Soucek (illness)
Rice’s midfield partner Tomas Soucek was also absent and like Rice, it was his first Premier League absence in over a year, with his last coming 16 months ago.
Moyes did not speak about any of the trio in particularly, but gave an overall assessment of the trio following the defeat.
“I knew in the morning that there had been sickness and one of them had a real high temperature,” Moyes explained.
“One of them had to go away at 11 o’clock and the other two at left at two o’clock today, once they weren’t going to get any better. We had given them a chance in the morning to recover, sleep longer, see how they were.
“They were in Manchester with the rest of the team so we had to send them away in cars later this afternoon to go home.”
Nayef Aguerd (illness)
Completing the trio of late absentees was Moroccan international centre-back Nayef Aguerd, who like RIce and Soucek, were late withdrawals from the matchday squad.
With Zouma missing out, it left West Ham forced to field a makeshift centre-back trio of Thilo Kehrer, Angelo Ogbonna and Aaron Cresswell against the Sky Blues.
Should none of the six absentees return in time to face United, at best, West Ham would have just 17 players available against Erik ten Hag’s side.
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