“Some Won’t Make it” West Ham Striker Injury Fears Before United Clash

Nuno Espírito Santo’s comments about West Ham having “injuries” ahead of tomorrow’s game against Manchester United have set alarm bells ringing among supporters.

Speaking in his pre-match press conference, the West Ham United boss said:

“Unfortunately we’re going to have some players out. It is what it is, but I’m not going to say who it is.”

Fair enough — I wouldn’t expect him to say any different. But there’s one name that wouldn’t surprise me in the slightest.

And that’s Pablo. It was extremely odd to see him limping almost immediately after being introduced as a substitute in Saturday’s 2–0 win over Burnley.

While Pablo isn’t the quickest player, he is usually mobile, extremely fit, and covers a huge amount of ground. Yet at Turf Moor he looked in obvious discomfort throughout his cameo — which left me wondering why he was used at all.

Did West Ham Risk an Injured Player?

It’s possible West Ham simply have such a shortage of attacking options that Nuno felt he had no choice but to field a player who clearly wasn’t right.

But even so, it felt strange at the time.

So I wasn’t shocked to hear Espirito Santo later confirm that some players are injured ahead of the Premier League clash with Manchester United — although it was fairly bold of him to admit that absentees are already confirmed.

If one of those turns out to be our first January signing, I won’t be remotely surprised.

With survival on the line and Old Trafford opposition coming to the London Stadium, West Ham can ill afford to lose attacking bodies now.

But based on what we saw at Burnley, Pablo’s availability already looks very much in doubt.