Chiekhou Kouyate was this morning reported to be making “decent progress” as the Hammers medical staff work on the walking wounded which has made the dressing room look like a set from “Casualty.”

And despite a tweet from co chairman David Gold claiming all the injured players are in contention for the weekend our own sources claim that Chiek is the only definite starter.

Stewart Downing is believed to have an outside chance of making it whilst Diafra Sakho’s back spasms are very much a matter for investigation.

Gold – giving his assessment of Saturday’s performance – said: “We lost against Everton because we had 5 of our best player out injured. It’s bound to have a bad effect on the result when you lose 5 players.”

He suggested that they could be back for the weekend but we were told: “That seems a very optimistic appraisal from where the medical staff are sitting.

“Chiek looks okay and likely to make it but the same question marks over the others as before the Sarurday game but a week is a lot of time in football!”