West Ham United may have just 17 senior players available for their Premier League clash against Nottingham Forest on Sunday.
While David Moyes has acquired five new players and spent around £100million on new signings this summer, a combination of already having a small Hammers squad, injuries, and player exits could lead to Moyes relying on academy players to fill his bench, as they did during the 2-0 defeat to Manchester City in their opening game of the campaign.
In that match, Kurt Zouma was the club’s only recognised centre-back in the squad, despite there being five at the club at the time. Angelo Ogbonna (knee), Craig Dawson (thigh), and Nayef Aguerd (ankle) all missed out through injury, while Issa Diop refused to play, having completed a £17million switch to Fulham on Wednesday evening.
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To make matters worse, first-choice goalkeeper Lukasz Fabianski could also be on the sidelines. He was forced off in the first half of the defeat to City following a collision with Norwegian striker Erling Haaland, sustaining a knock on his hip that led to a dead leg.
Since the defeat to City, centre-back Diop’s move to Fulham has been confirmed, while attacker Nikola Vlasic has also left the club to join Torino on a season-long loan move.
One positive for the Irons is that they now have Maxwel Cornet as an option. The Irons signed the Ivory Coast international from Burnley last Friday, but the Ivorian’s arrival came too late to make his debut against City.
Even with Cornet’s introduction, that would only take the club to 17 senior players, with that being on the basis that Fabianski, Dawson, and Ogbonna all remain out of contention and no fresh injuries have been picked up.
That 17 includes third-choice goalkeeper Darren Randolph and midfielders Flynn Downes and Conor Coventry. Downes made his West Ham debut against City in second-half stoppage time, coming on at the same time as academy graduate Coventry, who was making his senior debut.
To make up the numbers, academy duo Harrison Ashby and Armstrong Oko-Flex both featured on the bench during the loss to City. However, the 17 plus Ashby and Oko-Flex would take the Hammers to 19, needing one more to add to their bench to fill the 20-man squad quota.
Here is a look at who may feature for Moyes’ on Sunday at the City Ground so far based on the events of the past week.
Potential full list of senior players available against Nottingham Forest
- Goalkeepers: Alphonse Areola, Darren Randolph
- Defenders: Vladimir Coufal, Ben Johnson, Kurt Zouma, Aaron Cresswell
- Midfielders: Declan Rice, Tomas Soucek, Flynn Downes, Conor Coventry, Jarrod Bowen, Manuel Lanzini, Pablo Fornals, Said Benrahma, Maxwel Cornet
- Attackers: Michail Antonio, Gianluca Scamacca
Current injury list
- Angelo Ogbonna (knee) – working towards full fitness
- Nayef Aguerd (ankle) – due to return in mid-October
- Craig Dawson (thigh) – unknown return date
- Lukasz Fabianski (thigh) – unknown return date
For any new signings to be able to play against Forest, they would need to be registered to play before 12pm on Friday. Otherwise, like Cornet, they would have to wait until their club’s next fixture to feature.
West Ham have expressed an interest in signing defender Thilo Kehrer from Paris Saint-Germain. However, multiple clubs are interested in the German, including Spanish side Sevilla.
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