West Ham will again be without Lucas Paqueta for this weekend’s trip to face Nottingham Forest.
Paqueta returned to training this week but will play no part at the City Ground, with David Moyes reluctant to risk his playmaker after he suffered a recurrence of a calf injury during the FA Cup tie against Bristol City early last month.
“No, he’s not fit and available for tomorrow,” Moyes told reporters on Friday. “He’s been on the grass a couple of days.
“I wouldn’t say it’s tentative but it’s not full out, that’s for sure.”
West Ham’s form has dropped off badly in Paqueta’s absence, with the Hammers winless in their last five Premier League matches. Moyes has seen his side score only once from open play in that time, part of which also coincided with star forward Mohammed Kudus being away with Ghana at the Africa Cup of Nations.
“We’ve missed Lucas loads because there was a picture we had of how well we were playing, mainly before the Africa Cup of Nations started,” Moyes added. “We lost Kudus for four games around that period, Jarrod Bowen came back with an injury, as did Michail Antonio. But Newcastle have had big problems with injuries this season, Manchester United have had problems.
“We’ve had a wee bit of a problem around this period, not just with injuries but to do with players being away as well.”
In better news, both Kurt Zouma and Edson Alvarez are available, after being taken off at half-time against Arsenal, and Michail Antonio is back in contention, having not played since suffering a knee injury on international duty with Jamaica in November.
“Micky’s back available, Moyes continued. “We’ll need to see exactly how he is but he’s had a week or so of training and he’s back in the squad.”
