David Moyes is set for some tough decisions ahead of West Ham's Europa League last-16 second leg tie against Sevilla. The manager is sweating on the fitness of a number of key players with Michail Antonio, Aaron Cresswell and Nikola Vlasic doubts for the match.
The trio trained away from the group on Wednesday afternoon with David Moyes giving little away in his pre-match press conference when questioned about the injury issues in his squad.
"They [Antonio and Cresswell] have done a little bit of light training," the manager said. "We are trying to find out if they are fit. We are trying to give them every opportunity to be fit. But they did not train with the team but they did a little bit with the fitness coaches.
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"We will wait to assess them tomorrow to see how they are. I have not named the team and I will probably not do that until late tomorrow, to see how they are."
One man West Ham are definitely without is Jarrod Bowen, with the England hopeful not set to return to the team until April.
"Jarrod Bowen is not available and probably won’t be available until at the earliest after the international break," the manager confirmed.
With Alphonse Areola on media duties, it is safe to say the French goalkeeper will start ahead of Lukasz Fabianski and with Cresswell understood to be close to full fitness, the backline is set to be unchanged from the first-leg.
Ben Johnson will once again line up on the right, with Craig Dawson and Kurt Zouma in the middle and Cresswell the left.
Zouma's availability was thrown into question following the RSPCA's decision to begin the process of a prosecution against Kurt Zouma and Yoan Zouma under the Animal Welfare Act. However, West Ham are understood to have decided that Zouma is available for selection and will start the clash.
Ahead of the defence, Tomas Soucek and Declan Rice will once again line up in the heart of the midfield with Manuel Lanzini set to play in the No.10 role where he can drop deep and help out in central midfield if required.
Moyes could hand a start to Said Benrahmna with Nikola Vlasic missing out against Aston Villa and the Algerian grabbing two assists in his absence on Sunday. Pablo Fornals will continue in the side to complete the trio of attacking midfielders.
Antonio's fitness remains in question following a thigh injury against Aston Villa and the striker will face a late fitness test. The news was promising on Wednesday regarding his fitness, however, Moyes insisted he would not risk the striker if he was not fully fit.
"If he is not fully fit I won’t take a risk. He's not somebody I would do that with. Generally, if somebody isn’t ready to play then I won’t use them. The ‘but’ to that is that he is really important, for different reasons. We needed Yarmolenko’s quality to get us the goal the other day. We have been lacking that. But Mic plays in a different way for us, leads the line and brings other people into the game… we need Mic fully fit and firing."
Should Antonio not recover in time then Andriy Yarmolenko is set to fill his role upfront following his goalscoring return to the side on Sunday.
Predicted West Ham XI: Areola, Johnson, Dawson, Zouma, Cresswell, Rice, Soucek, Benrahma, Lanzini, Fornals, Antonio
