West Ham will welcome Mohammed Kudus back from the Africa Cup of Nations when Bournemouth visit the London Stadium on Thursday night, with Edson Alvarez also set to be fit to feature.
Kudus has not played for his club since the victory over Arsenal in late-December but has returned sooner than expected from the Ivory Coast after Ghana were knocked out in the group stage.
Alvarez missed the dramatic 2-2 draw at Sheffield United earlier this month with a calf problem but David Moyes confirmed that both players will be back in contention when the Cherries come to east London tomorrow.
“Mo’s back from the AFCON which is good,” the Scot said. “Edson Alvarez is doing much better so hopefully he’ll be available.”
Kalvin Phillips could make his Hammers debut after joining on loan from Manchester City earlier this month, though with the England international yet to start a Premier League game this term, Moyes hinted he may be consigned to a place on the bench for now.
“I don’t know exactly if he is [ready to start] or not because he’s not played an awful lot at all but he’s been training and keeping himself going,” he said. “I couldn’t give you the exact answer if he’s ready to play or not.”
Said Benrahma and Vladimir Coufal are both suspended for the game, though the former is unlikely to have featured anyway as he weighs up a deadline day move to Lyon.
Nayef Aguerd’s Morocco side were knocked out of AFCON on Tuesday night, but Thursday’s game will come too soon for the centre-back to be involved.
Predicted West Ham XI (4-3-3): Areola; Johnson, Mavropanos, Zouma, Emerson; Ward-Prowse, Alvarez, Soucek; Bowen, Ings, Kudus
Injured: Paqueta, Antonio
Suspended: Coufal, Benrahma
Unavailable: Aguerd
Time and date: 7:30pm GMT on Thursday February 1, 2024
Venue: London Stadium
TV channel: TNT Sports
