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Gambler Moyes’ huge injury warning

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David Moyes has been handed a huge injury warning within his squad over the last few days.

At the weekend, there were two major concerns, as both Mikey Antonio and Aaron Cresswell limped off.

This season, the Irons are operating with maybe the smallest squad in years.

There were no January additions, and the squad has been stretched to near breaking point too often,

Mikey now has a 50/50 chance of playing against Sevilla in the second leg of their Europa League Round of 16 tie, with a 1-0 deficit needing to be overturned.

Cresswell, by comparison, is fit and Moyes has been genuinely fortunate in this situation, barring the injury to Jarrod Bowen.

He is being forced to run his squad into the ground, with there being only 14 regular starters  and one has to think that Moyes could utilise the likes of Armstrong Okoflex and Sonny Perkins, who have regularly been placed on the bench seemingly for no apparent reason.

They are both struggling for minutes and the Hammers boss really needs to find a way of rotating his regulars with them.

Last season, of course, we saw our top-four charge derailed by Declan Rice’s injury, and there is a real worry that should Declan  or Antonio don’t sustain major injuries. Oggy remains out and Zouma has had his injury issue.

All three players are irreplaceable; Moyes has gambled in claiming he can’t find better players than the ones he has got.

Let’s pray he and we don’t come out as Cheltenham week losers on Thursday …and, indeed, beyond

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A journalist with 10 years' experience of working on National newspapers, now chief reporter covering the club that I've loved since I was a boy. Upton Park remains the greatest football stadium ever built.

2 comments

  • johnham1 says:

    Moyes has to start Yarmo up top against Sevilla, it is all set up for him. Antonio is not 100%, he is completely out of form and there is more chance of Fredericks scoring at this stage. Yarmo will work really well with Lanzini, Fornals and Benrahma. But what will Moyes do – pick a half fit Antonio. I would not play Antonio and I would not be afraid to use the u23s instead of turning to a half fit misfiring Antonio. Another viable option is to play Vlasic as a 9 if he is fit.

  • hammerpete6 says:

    Absolutely agree Dave he must integrate his under 23 players and start immediately with sub appearances. This is not rocket science and most top clubs do it – come on DM.

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