David Moyes believes the number of injuries occurring just ahead of the World Cup is no more than the normal amount for this stage of the season.
Tottenham’s Son Heung-min sustained a fractured eye socket during Tottenham’s Champions League clash at Marseille on Tuesday, with Chelsea’s Ben Chilwell then pulling up with a hamstring problem on Wednesday night.
Reece James is already a doubt for the tournament, as is Kyle Walker, but despite the injuries Moyes believes there is nothing unusual about the rising concerns from those focusing on international squads.
“It’s the time of the season where injuries happen,” the West Ham manager said. “We go into the Christmas period where you’re asking the players to play a ridiculous amount of games over a short period of time, but this is our culture and that’s what we do.
“But to highlight it more now, there’s probably the same number of injuries as there was last season when there was no World Cup, so if people are surprised then they shouldn’t be – because with football comes injuries.
“And let’s be fair with the amount of games the players, the clubs and the coaches have had to put up with, a huge scheduling – everybody’s scheduling a big, big amount of games.
“So I don’t think it should be too surprising knowing that there’s injuries (occurring).”
West Ham start a period of three successive home games by hosting Crystal Palace at the weekend; the Eagles have not won on the road in the top flight since April.
Those matches will come ahead of the World Cup, with Moyes keen to go into the winter break in a good position.
“We’d like to try and finish in a strong position (before the break),” the Hammers boss said.
“Some of our performances have merited a bit more and we’d like to turn that into goals and we’re probably a little bit behind on them.
“But look let’s hope we keep performing; good performances tend to lead to good results and I’m hoping that’s the case.”
