West Ham's Premier League campaign begins in just 17 days and with David Moyes yet to add to the first-team squad, pre-season injuries are the last thing the manager needs.
Against Celtic on Saturday afternoon, Moyes looked on as Angelo Ogbonna received treatment for a hamstring injury and the signal was given that his day was done after just seven minutes.
Ogbonna started in 28 Premier League matches last season with his ten absences coming through injury and his slow reintegration into the team.
His loss to the defence was clear to see with the Hammers conceding 13 times without the Italian in the starting XI.
The good news for West Ham fans is that club captain Mark Noble was not overly concerned about the length of his teammate's injury.
"Angelo has got a slight problem, but he's going to be fine," Noble told the club website. "Apart from that, everyone got through the game so we rest up, recover and go again."
Next up for West Ham is a trip to Brentford on Saturday for a pre-season friendly against the newly-promoted Premier League team before the preparations concluded on Saturday, August 7, with a home clash against Atalanta.
The Hammers pre-season form has been good but Noble is well aware that it counts for nothing once the competitive matches come around.
"I remember playing in a pre-season when we won every game and we got relegated [in 2010/11], so you can’t take too much out of it," Noble said.
The skipper added: "It's about getting minutes in the legs and getting ready for the season, but when you go to a place like that and play at a stadium like that [Celtic Park], that makes it a little bit special."
Looking ahead to the final two matches of pre-season, Noble said: "We’ve got two tough games coming up, but we’re getting our players back after the Euros now and doing a bit of training, because we’re going to need them.
"We’ve got an incredible fixture list coming up of games so we’re going to need as many bodies as we can."
