Nuno Espirito Santo hopes Aaron Wan-Bissaka will be available to face Wolves after the West Ham defender returned late from international duty with DR Congo.
Wan-Bissaka missed last weekend’s penalty shootout defeat to Leeds after the Congolese FA insisted on keeping the national team squad in the capital Kinshasa to celebrate with the country’s president, Felix Tshisekedi, after they beat Jamaica to qualify for their first World Cup since 1974.
Wan-Bissaka’s absence against Leeds had subsequently raised concerns that the right-back would not be back in time for West Ham’s crucial relegation match at home to Wolves.
But Wan-Bissaka returned to training on Tuesday and Nuno has now confirmed the right-back will be in contention to face the Premier League’s bottom side on Friday evening.
“Yeah, we deal with that. We deal with that,” said Nuno when asked about the situation in his pre-match press conference on Wednesday.
“It was not possible for him to be here (against Leeds). But now he returned. He's good. He's working. And let's see tomorrow if he can help the team.”
Asked whether he had expected Wan-Bissaka to be back in time to face Leeds last Sunday, Nuno refused to go into details, instead electing to congratulate DR Congo for qualifying for the World Cup.
The West Ham boss said: “Look, I don't want to go too much into details. They reached a big thing in Congo. But he returned, and he's good.”
Crysencio Summerville missed the Leeds game with a calf injury, while Jean-Clair Todibo and Callum Wilson were also absent from the matchday squad.
All three players have proved to be important figures for Nuno, with West Ham just one point from safety, and the Portuguese coach said the trio would continue to be assessed ahead of kick-off.
“He (Summerville) is improving, he is improving. Him, JC and Callum Wilson. So, we still have tomorrow to assess,” said Nuno.
“We are positive that they are going to be available.”
Centre-back Konstantinos Mavropanos has also been cleared of concussion protocols after suffering a head injury while playing for Greece over the international break.
West Ham are curretly 18th in the Premier League table, one point behind Tottenham in the battle to beat the drop.
