West Ham coach Mark Warburton was sent out to address the media after last night’s friendly at Cambridge United and was keen to explain the ‘injury issues’ which may be affecting the squad.

He explained that the decision to replace Aaron Cresswell with Emerson was a precautionary measure given that it was a very cold night and that it was hoped the situation with the No 1 left back was not serious.

Maxwell Cornet was  described as not being too far away after a little tweak following an injury which stretches back to October 1 and the Wolves game whilst Tomas Soucek was absent following an interrupted night’s sleep and suffering a stiff lower back.

In normal circumstances he would normally have been used but given they have only been back a few days Warburton explained it’s important to look after them.

He added that Nayef Aguerd – injured on World Cup duty – had been in touch with the club discussing his groin problem.

He said: “Fingers crossed it’s not as bad as it looked. We saw he reached for his groin but he’s quite happy tonight (after Morocco’s World Cup round of 16 win over Spain) so hopefully he’ll have it assesses and have a scan in the morning and, fingers crossed, it’s not too bad.”