David Moyes faces the prospect of the left half of his defence being absent from Thursday's Europa League quarter-final second leg against Lyon after Kurt Zouma came off with an ankle injury in the first period of a desperately flat Premier League defeat away to Brentford this afternoon.
Moyes' side face an even taller order in the second leg in France in four days' time, which is finely poised at 1-1, if Zouma is ruled out and Issa Diop, the squad's only other fit centre back, is partnered with Craig Dawson, who played today despite a suspected broken nose. Left back Aaron Cresswell is suspended having been sent off in the first leg.
Zouma will have a scan to determine the severity of the injury but Moyes said he was unsure how bad it was immediately after today's game. "Kurt has twisted his ankle," Moyes said. "We don't know how bad it is. We'll get him checked but I've not gotten a chance to speak to the medical team yet. Coming off is not a good sign but hopefully it's not too bad."
The 27-year-old was fouled by Brentford captain Christian Norgaard following a rare dribble into midfield. Having received some treatment, Zouma attempted to continue but within five minutes went down clutching his lower right leg once more and following a consultation with the club's medical staff hobbled off gingerly to be replaced by Diop.
West Ham were outworked and outsmarted as Bryan Mbeumo scored the opener for Thomas Frank's team after a throw-in routine caught the slack visitors cold before Ivan Toney made it 2-0. The visitors' only attempt on target was a Tomas Soucek header midway through the opening half and it was hard to name single player who performed to par with the toll of Thursday night's draw against Lyon evident from early on
"Disappointing," was Moyes' assessment of the performance. "It was really, really shoddy from our point of view."
Craig Dawson also required treatment after taking an early blow to the face, spending most of the opening half with cotton buds up his nostrils to stem the blood. He later made an oustanding challenge to deny Toney from making it 3-0.
"We thought he broke his nose on Thursday and in the first minute he caught on his nose," Moyes said. "He battles on Daws, great credit to him."
Brentford, meanwhile, are now 12 points clear of relegation with six games still remaining in the season. "It was almost a complete performance," Brentford head coach Frank said, adding that it was the most they have controlled any game in their debut Premier League campaign.
