Get all your news in one place.
100’s of premium titles.
One app.
Start reading
Football London
Football London
Sport
Jonty Colman

David Moyes explains Craig Dawson and Issa Diop's absences and provides Lukasz Fabianski update

West Ham United boss David Moyes has said that centre-back Craig Dawson is currently injured while Issa Diop has not put himself forward for selection in recent matches.

The Hammers started their 2022/23 Premier League campaign with a 2-0 defeat to Manchester City on Sunday at the London Stadium with Erling Haaland scoring either side of half-time to secure an opening weekend for the Sky Blues.

In the tie, West Ham had just one centre-back available with Craig Dawson injured and Angelo Ogbonna recovering from a long-term issue that ruled him out of most of last season.

READ MORE: West Ham player ratings: Erling Haaland's Premier League debut double downs injury-hit Hammers

Issa Diop was also not with the squad and despite suggestiongs that he had been injured ahead of kick-off, David Moyes has said that the Frenchman has not put himself forward for selection in recent matches.

"No, Issa Diop is not injured at the minute," Moyes told football.London. "Issa Diop didn’t put himself forward to play in the last couple of games and we will see what happens with that in the next couple of weeks." Asked if Diop will leave the club, Moyes replied: "I don't know.

"Difficult when you start the first game against the best team. We’ve been chasing a centre half for two years, he then injures himself against Rangers, so we have to go with that. Daws has got a bit of a thigh strain, we’ve not got Angelo Ogbonna ready to get back yet from his cruciate yet, we were really, really short of defensive options.

"We knew this for the week and we were working really hard to work out how best we could play against Man City with what we’ve got. It wasn’t a great result and it wasn’t a great performance but the players stuck at it and they didn’t give in, so I’ll give them a bit of credit for that."

The Hammers' injury woes worsened when goalkeeper Lukasz Fabianski was forced off before the half-hour mark after colliding with Erling Haaland and Aaron Cresswell.

Speaking on the Polish goalkeeper's injury, Moyes was hopeful that the issue would not be a long-term one.

"He got a knock onto his hip, which he thinks has numbed his leg completely, so the knock makes me feel not so bad," added Moyes.

"Hopefully, it won’t be anything serious but he’s limping badly at the moment. Hopefully, it’s not maybe as bad as we felt, he had no feeling in his leg after getting the knock."

READ NEXT:

Sign up to read this article
Read news from 100’s of titles, curated specifically for you.
Already a member? Sign in here
Related Stories
Top stories on inkl right now
Our Picks
Fourteen days free
Download the app
One app. One membership.
100+ trusted global sources.