West Ham have been hit with a triple blow ahead of tonight’s away match against Manchester City, due to a bout of illness.
Midfielders Declan Rice and Tomas Soucek, as well as centre-back Nayef Aguerd, were set to start at the Etihad Stadium against City, who will return to the top of the table if they beat the Hammers. However, illness has swept through the squad overnight, meaning all three were sent home from Manchester at around 2pm this afternoon.
West Ham have lined up with an experienced 5-4-1 formation in the trio’s absence, which features youngster Flynn Downes in midfield and Thilo Kehrer set to start as a centre-back. The bench contains only seven players, including two goalkeepers.
Speaking pre-match, manager David Moyes said: “We had worked on the team yesterday, but unfortunately overnight, three of them took ill, so we had to change it around. Hopefully it’s not too bad sickness.
“We had named some of the players who are not here in the side, but two or three of them at the moment are unwell — and there’s nothing we can do about it. It only happened today.
“We sent the players home about 2 o’clock today, so it was too late to really bring any of the young boys up to add to the bench.”
City rest Ederson against West Ham as deputy Stefan Ortega starts in goal, with Nathan Ake returning from injury in place of Manuel Akanji in defence.
Bernardo Silva is preferred to Ilkay Gundogan in midfield as Julian Alvarez continues to deputise for the absent Kevin De Bruyne, whom Pep Guardiola insists is “feeling better” and could face Leeds on Saturday.
