Andriy Yarmolenko was another player not selected by manager Manuel Pellegrini for the defeat to Man City at the weekend and there is no injury issue, football.london has learned.
The Ukrainian winger is coming off a serious injury last season when he ruptured his achilles in a defeat to Spurs last October and missed the majority of the 2018/19 campaign.
Yarmolenko got a full pre-season under his belt and appeared in all six friendlies this summer as he started his injury comeback, starting to find his form in the second half of the summer after a slow start.
However, he was not included in the squad for the opening Premier League game of the season.
There is no new injury setback or concern over Yarmolenko. Such is the competition for places in the Hammers midfield there was simply no room for him in the matchday 18.
Robert Snodgrass, Carlos Sanchez and Pablo Fornals were the midfielders named on the bench as West Ham were thumped 5-0 by the reigning, two-time defending Premier League champions.
Arthur Masuaku befell the same fate as he was also left out of the squad for the loss to Pep Guardiola's team though he is expected to be pushing for a place to start against Brighton on Saturday.
The Hammers have been very careful with Yarmolenko's recovery as it was the second time he had injured his achilles in his career and there is no guarantee he will make the squad again this weekend, such is competition for places in West Ham's midfield.
Yarmolenko joined the Hammers from Borussia Dortmund last summer for £17.5m and really started to hit form in September, scoring twice against Everton on his first start and also in the victory over Man Utd at London Stadium before suffering his devastating injury a couple of weeks later.
