Hammer Declan Rice suffered a bad knee injury during England’s game against Poland earlier this week and has not travelled to Wolves.
The 22-year-old injured his right knee at around the sixty-minute mark but played on thinking nothing was really wrong.
Rice underwent a medical scan on Thursday and is now wearing a protective brace around his knee.
The good news is the scan did not show a tear and medics believe the injury could heal naturally but he is likely to be out of action for five to six weeks.
Claret and Hugh have learnt if the injury does not respond to rest he may require further treatment including an operation that could see him out as long as four months but insiders say it is too early to say one way or another.
The news will come as a devasting blow to David Moyes and West Ham supporters in their push for Europe.
Claret and Hugh also understand that Manuel Lanzini is also suffering from a knock and is unlikely to be available for selection.
Not good news , the lads will have to work really hard without him. I don’t think Noble is the answer so DM will need to find a way to play without Rice. Maybe Soucek holding and Fornals going forward .
YET another of our players injured playing for England!!! Not sure our players are protected as much as players from big Six whose Managers appear to be able to influence things
Season over.
Well now our lack of depth will be shown. But if we rely on one man so much then we are NOT what we think we are. Time to show the doubters.Rubbish England games cost us again.Well we did beat San Marino and Albania !
Rice being injured is a terrible blow, the fact that the replacement is likely to be Noble is even worse.
This really shows up our lack of squad depth and I only hope the owners invest in beefing up the positions were light in the summer.
Moyes has worked some miracles so far, but he’s going to have to pull something out of the bag here. My fear is he will just revert to type and go full on defensive. Which hasn’t worked at all when he’s tried it. Also every game Noble’s started this season we’ve been crap.
Dear Mr Moyes – as a result of the unfortunate injury to Declan Rice, please, please, please do not fall into the trap of playing Mark Noble as a replacement in centre midfield at any point during the remainder of the season. It would much more preferable to play Conor Coventry in centre midfield, or to use Soucek as a lone holding midfielder. Yours sincerely 100,000 West Ham United fans.
Terrible news, we have been so lucky with injuries this season and to lose our most influential player is a huge blow. If it is true I wish him well in a fully recovery. Lets hope we will see him back before the season end. In terms of the game tonight, I assume Moyes has been planning for this scenario to happen at some stage either through injury, rest or suspension. Lets hope he has because if I see Noble starting tonight in a midfield 2 or 3 again in a game we need to win, I will be terribly disappointed in Moyes. The obvious player to fill in for Dec is Fornals but I worry what Moyes might end up doing. If he starts Noble and we lose he will be ravaged by every pundit and supporter so lets hope he has learned his lessons from his mistakes..
Worthless , pointless internationals kill West Ham again.
Absolute joke.
How much compensation for a champions league place.
Funny on here people were happy that noble got a new contract, now no one wants him to play 😊.
How about fornals playing next to souchek ?
NOT the England Curse again!
To say that this was the LAST bit of bad news that I wanted to hear….is an Understatement!
I hope for Declan and his career that the prognosis is the very best.
I feared this could happen…….COYI
Effin England Duty! Cost us big time! Play Coventry instead of Nobs!
Can’t see any other line-up than Noble playing. There has been no evidence to the contrary all season and the message it would send to Noble to play Coventry or even Diop instead is not what Moyes is about… unfortunately.
Surely we have to play 3 at the back for the time he is out. I can’t see any other system, with or without Noble.
What a blow.
Spot on Saul, got to be 3-5-2.
Fab
Oggy, Diop, Dawson
Cresswell. Coufal
Soucek
Formals. Lingard
Benrahma
Antonio.
Oh blinkin’ flip.
Hopefully we have enough for tonight but the game against Leicester and their midfield will be really tricky without Dec.
Give Ben Johnson a chance in midfield. He has good technical ability and a good engine. Prob a better option than Coventry who has never played at this level. Either that or play a 4-1-4-1 set up with Lingard and Fornals in front of Soucek.
Please mr moyes do not play noble
Please not Noble his finished and has been for a few years Give Coventry ago, he will certainly be a lot more mobile and playing along side Soucek will help him
I’ve just turned my attention to the game tonight and I’m gobsmacked reading about our talisman’s injury.
Get well soon Declan, please only come back when fully fit. Get over your injury properly to avoid it becoming a recurring problem.
Likewise Manu, we have been dealt a hammer blow, funnily enough I’m still feeling cautiously optimistic, hopefully it’ll be an opportunity for whomever comes in.
How about Fabian Balbuena covering for Dec?
Whether Noble or Coventry, our European hopes just disappeared.
WBA are gong to be relegated and OKAY is the kind of holding mid, with the ability to move forward we need. Physical, capable and mean.
Next time Southgate comes to London Stadium, give him a seat in the dunny.
Yet another injury playing for England, are we jinxed or what!!