West Ham boss David Moyes has been dealt a further setback this week after a fresh update emerged on the injuries to key defensive duo Kurt Zouma and Ben Johnson…
What’s the word?
The pair both had to be withdrawn during last weekend’s triumphant 3-2 victory over Chelsea, who were league leaders at the time, and the extent of their problems has now been revealed by a very reliable inside source.
“It has been confirmed that Zouma has unfortunately snapped a ligament in his knee following the Chelsea game. Fortunately, the second scans have shown that it isn’t quite as serious as some had suggested before. However, it is still a serious injury,” claimed ExWHUemployee to ‘The West Ham Way’ website.
“The injury is at the back of the knee (not the one he injured when at Chelsea) and connects to the hamstring. No exact time span has been put on the recovery length by the club but this injury is likely to take 3-4 months to fully recover (worst case scenario) from which means we may see him before the end of the season.
“Ben Johnson’s injury has been confirmed, as we reported, to be low scale hamstring strain which can carry a period of recovery of 2-4 weeks.”
Devastating defensive blow
With the Irons flying high inside the Premier League’s top four right now, this latest update comes as a major blow to Moyes and the squad, especially as Italian veteran Angelo Ogbonna was already ruled out for the remainder of the season.
The Hammers will now be without a trio of first-team defensive starters, which is a worrying prospect heading into a very busy and hectic festive period.
Moyes’ men are set to play their third game since the turn of the month on Thursday, whilst they are scheduled to have another five games before their Boxing Day clash with Southampton at the London Stadium and by New Year’s Day, they’ll have played ten games in the space of a month.
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West Ham will now have to do so without three of their starting four defenders – a troubling prospect.
Whilst they don’t have the best defensive record inside the top six, the fact that Moyes is now left with only two senior centre-backs (Issa Diop and Craig Dawson) and a trio of full-backs who have been dealing with their own injury troubles throughout the season is certainly a bitter pill to swallow.
Aaron Cresswell has missed recent matches through injury, Arthur Masuaku missed several months of action last term and Vladimir Coufal has been usurped by the academy gem due to his time on the sidelines earlier this season.
Johnson, Zouma and Ogbonna had all started at least eight of their league outings this term, only emphasising their importance to the Scotsman.
This latest development from Rush Green is surely to leave both the 58-year-old manager and the Irons’ faithful absolutely worried about what lies ahead.
There are eight games to play until the club can help alleviate the issue in January – by then, the Hammers could quite easily sink down the table in the absence of such key figures.
On the above evidence, Moyes and co will be gutted by this huge blow.
AND in other news, Rob Newman could secure West Ham’s next Carlos Tevez in swoop for £18m-rated “poacher”…
