Michail Antonio could miss up to four months of action after the West Ham winger underwent successful hamstring surgery on Tuesday.
Antonio pulled up just seven minutes into the Carabao Cup second round victory over Newport County and immediately signalled he needed to be substituted off.
The club had to wait 48 hours after the injury before they could put Antonio through an MRI scan to determine the extent of the injury and it is now believed that it is as serious as first feared as it is a tear in the hamstring, not a strain or a pull.
Antonio underwent surgery on Tuesday and is now beginning his recovery after it was deemed a success.
It's not the first time Antonio has suffered hamstring problems either as he has suffered two previous hamstring injuries in his Hammers career and both wear tears, one in 2017 and one in 2018 that kept him out for an average length of 4.5 months.
It leaves the Hammers somewhat light up front with Antonio deployed as a striker in pre-season, though his two Premier League appearances this season were both on the wing.
The Hammers sold Javier Hernandez on Monday at the close of the European transfer window to Sevilla for £7m and as a result, named inexperienced striker Xande Silva as part of their Premier League squad.
Silva has played in the top flight just once,l a ten-minute cameo against Burnley last year at Turf Moor and is currently recovering from undergoing emergency surgery earlier this summer following a bowel obstruction.
It is hoped that Silva could well feature in a potential Carabao Cup fourth round tie in October, provided the Hammers get past Oxford United in the third round later in September.
It l;eaves just two currently fit strikers at the club in Sebastien Haller and Albian Ajeti. Haller has bagged three goals already this season while Ajeti has only mad one appearance and that was in the League Cup win at Newport.
