Tomas Soucek and Mark Noble have lost their fight to be fit for West Ham’s clash with Leeds United today.
The midfield pair missed Wednesday night's win over Norwich City with boss David Moyes unwilling to disclose whether they had tested positive or were injured.
West Ham have suffered with a steady drip of Covid cases, having missed Michail Antonio and Pablo Fornals after positive tests in recent weeks, but have not had to push for any postponements so far.
The east Londoners will be looking to tighten their grip on a top four place with a four straight Premier League win over Marcelo Bielsa's side on Sunday, having knocked them out of the FA Cup last weekend.
Vladimir Coufal and Aaron Cresswell both returned to the side against Norwich while Kurt Zouma is back in training and closing in on a return from his hamstring injury.
Asked whether Noble or Soucek would return, Moyes said: "We're hopeful that we might get one of them back, I'm not saying who," said Moyes.
"We've also got some other niggles ahead of the game and we've also got some with Covid as well. It's difficult, we've got injuries and Covid like all the clubs have.
"When you play Sunday-Wednesday-Sunday you’re always liable to pick up injuries with the schedule. We have one or two knocks that we need to assess.
"Kurt is on his way back and has started back in training, but all the clubs have got situations, whether it’s injuries or Covid, and we have to deal with it as best we can."
West Ham XI: Fabianski; Coufal, Dawson, Diop, Cresswell; Rice, Lanzini; Bowen, Vlasic, Fornals; Antonio.
Subs: Areola, Fredericks, Masuaku, Johnson, Alese, Kral, Perkins, Okoflex, Yarmolenko.
Date: Sunday, January 16, 2pm
Venue: London Stadium
Referee: Mike Dean
TV: Sky Sports
West Ham squad from: Fabianski, Martin, Randolph, Areola, Diop, Dawson, Alese, Baptise, Ashby, Johnson, Coufal, Masuaku, Longelo, Rice, Soucek,, Kral, Vlasic, Yarmolenko, Fornals, Lanzini, Benrahma, Bowen, Antonio, Perkins.
Injured: Ogbonna (knee), Cresswell (back)
Doubt: Zouma (hamstring), Noble, Fredericks (knee)
