West Ham don’t have an abundance of injury concerns heading into their Premier League clash with Sheffield United on Sunday afternoon.
One player definitely out is Andriy Yarmolenko, owing to his positive covid-19 test result while he was away on international duty with Ukraine. The Hammers winger is now in a period of self-isolation away from the club.
West Ham are still awaiting test results from the other nine players who were away with their country over the past fortnight and that meant training on Friday had to be pushed back to the afternoon to the chagrin of David Moyes.
The Hammers boss said at his pre-match press conference: “The big problem is that we are waiting - we are training this afternoon - for the testing to get confirmed from the international players, we have not had all the test results back yet which is a bit disappointing.
“We have to wait until they come back to see if the players can train.”
But there was good news on the fitness of Angelo Ogbonna, who was forced off with a groin strain against Fulham prior to the international break, meaning he could join up with the Italian national team.
Ogbonna has had a full week of training and he should be fine to resume his centre half role at Bramall Lane this weekend.
Moyes was a bit more coy on Michail Antonio, who is back in group training as he recovers from a hamstring strain. There is optimism that the striker could be on the bench this weekend but the manager erred on the side of caution at his press conference.
Arthur Masuaku pulled out of the DR Congo squad after his call up for the Africa Cup of Nations as he nurses a slight knee injury. However, he too is expected to be fine to feature for the Hammers this weekend.
Here is the latest injury news heading into Sunday’s game with the latest from Moyes after his pre-match press conference.
Angelo Ogbonna
Injury: Groin
Date of injury: November 7
Potential return date: November 22
Comments : “We think Angelo [Ogbonna] is fine.”
Michail Antonio
Injury: Hamstring
Date of injury: October 24
Potential return date: November 22
Comments: “When we get him back, it’ll be great but I don’t want to say that we can because at the moment, we don’t think he is quite ready yet.”
Mark Noble
Injury: Rib
Date of injury : N/A
Potential return date: November 22
Comments: "Mark Noble had a little bit of a rib injury that he picked up in training."
Andriy Yarmolenko
Injury: Positive covid-19 test
Date: N/A
Potential return date: December 5
Comments: "I have to say that with the fixture list, we knew it was there with the international break. It has been very difficult with the testing situation, I don’t think there is an easy solution.”
Arthur Masuaku
Injury: Knee knock
Date of injury: N/A
Potential return date: November 22
Comments: football.london understands that Masuaku stayed in England instead of heading on international duty in order to manage his injury.
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