David Moyes has confirmed that Marko Arnautovic and Andre Ayew will be available for West Ham United’s match with Leicester City, but the Irons will still be without Chicharito and Michail Antonio.
The Hammers take on the Foxes in the Premier League on Friday evening in Moyes’s first match at London Stadium in charge of West Ham United.
The manager’s squad will be boosted by the availability of two attacking players in Arnautovic and Ayew. The No7 was substituted in the second half of last weekend’s match with Watford with a suspected arm injury, but Arnautovic’s knock was not as serious as first feared and he will be able to play against Leicester.
Ayew meanwhile missed Moyes’s first match due to illness, but the Ghanaian has recovered in time to return to consideration for Friday’s game
It was badly swollen but he [Arnautovic] is fine. He has trained and he is okay."
David Moyes
“It [Marko Arnautovic’s injury] looked really serious when he came off,” Moyes admitted to his press conference. “It was bad. The first stop was broken arm and then broken thumb. Thankfully there’s no breaks.
“It was badly swollen – it was a bit like a boxer’s hand when we saw it the next day. But he’s fine. He has trained with a good plaster on it. He’s okay.
“Andre Ayew was out with illness. His wasn’t so bad but he has taken a couple of days to find his feet after. He’s back in amongst us too which is good.”
Michail Antonio has also returned to full training this week after suffering an injury which kept the forward out of the Liverpool and Watford matches.
The 27-year-old, like James Collins, is on the road back to fitness after his set-back but Moyes has indicated that neither will be risked versus Leicester City, with the manager keeping one eye on a busy festive fixture list.
Moyes added: “Michail Antonio is back among the group but I think he looks short of fitness and match practice. He won’t be included in the squad for the game but we need him back for the coming weeks.
“James Collins has been back training. He came out of training for one day due to a little tweak. We are feeding him in and bringing him out, but we’re trying to get him back because we’ve got so many games and a really busy schedule coming up.
“Rushing James Collins and Michail Antonio back, I don’t necessarily think is the right thing to do at the moment. Because of the heavy period coming up I’m going to need them in the coming weeks and months.”
Moyes also offered updates on Chicharito, who is expected to return to running next week, as well as Sam Byram – who has been out of action after suffering an injury in training at the start of the month.
“It would be get to some of the other boys back, like Sam Byram. It would be good to get them back.
“Javier Hernandez will hopefully start some running and join in from next week. We are hopeful for him from next week.”