Manuel Pellegrini has updated West Ham team teams at his pre-match press conference this afternoon by saying there is no update from last week. Pellegrini told reporters assembled at Rush Green at lunchtime: “Injured players are exactly the same as last week, so we don’t have any news about that!”
That appears to say that Fabian Balbuena, Ryan Fredericks and Javier Hernandez will not return to the squad for selection this weekend. Fredericks and Hernandez are understood to have trained all week and were thought to have been fit enough to return to the squad but the manager’s brief words seem to suggest that Saturday lunchtime will come too soon for them.
Fabian Balbuena is reported to have broken down in training this week with a knee injury and medical teams are assessing whether he needs a small operation. Marko Arnautovic is expected to start on Saturday after being substituted after twenty minutes in the FA Cup with the manager insisting his head was in the right place despite China rumours
Pellegrini also confirmed Nasri is available for selection by telling reporters. “I think it was very useful for him to play 60 minutes in the FA Cup. He has been working hard for around 40 days and he has demonstrated he is able to be involved against Arsenal, at least in the squad list.”
