West Ham's hopes of taking advantage of Liverpool's defensive injury crisis on Saturday have been dealt a huge blow with Michail Antonio set to miss the clash.
Antonio, West Ham's top scorer so far this season, suffered a hamstring injury in last weekend's draw with Manchester City.
talkSPORT report that his injury is now worse than first feared and scans revealed he could be out for up to six weeks.
The 30-year-old has been in fine form since switching to a centre-forward role when last season resumed in June, scoring 11 goals in 13 matches.
He has netted three times in six Premier League games this season, helping the Hammers to four matches unbeaten.
Yet their unbeaten run will now face a huge test against defending Premier League champions Liverpool on Saturday.
The Hammers had been hopeful that they could take advantage of Liverpool's mounting injury crisis in defence through Antonio's good form.
Liverpool are set to be without Virgil van Dijk, Joel Matip and Fabinho for the game, leaving Joe Gomez as their only recognised senior centre-back.
It means Jurgen Klopp could well be forced into playing an inexperienced youngster against West Ham, but Antonio is unlikely to be able to take advantage.
Hammers boss David Moyes spoke of Antonio's importance after last weekend's draw against Man City, revealing that the versatile forward was key to their good form.
He said: "Micky has become so important, a bit like Marko Arnautovic was a couple of years ago when we were here.
"We needed somebody to get us goals and play up from tin a way to get us up the pitch. Micky can do that because he's so powerful and quick.
"We've got to hope the injury isn't too serious because he's a really good player and he's doing great."
