Darren Randolph is in contention to make his second West Ham United debut against Everton after completing a transfer back to east London.
The 32-year-old returned to the Hammers on Wednesday after two-and-a-half years with Middlesbrough and manager David Moyes confirmed that the shot-stopper is being considered to feature this Saturday at London Stadium.
With Lukasz Fabianski unavailable due to injury, Moyes could either call on Randolph, David Martin or Roberto when his Irons meet former team Everton.
Darren's been doing all the work he’s had to do and hopefully he’ll be ready for the weekend. I’ve got the choice between three goalkeepers at the moment and he’s certainly in that.
David Moyes
“We’d ideally have liked to have waited a week longer, but Lukasz’s injury has meant we’ve brought that forward,” Moyes said. “We’re happy with him so far and we’re happy to take the risk with it. He’s trained fine today and we’re glad to have him on board.
“It’s not a great risk because he’s been training for a while now. He’s been doing all the work he’s had to do and hopefully he’ll be ready for the weekend. I’ve got the choice between three goalkeepers at the moment and he’s certainly in that.”
While Fabianski cannot feature against Everton, Moyes admitted that the news regarding the extent of the Poland international’s set-back can only be considered as positive.
“It’s really good news,” he confirmed. “I think you can see the form, when Lukasz has played in goal, has been very good. I think that, when he’s in, he’s been excellent – last season and this season. It was great news to find out it will only be a few weeks.”
Summer signing Pablo Fornals has been praised for recent performances, since Moyes returned as manager to West Ham, and the boss has been happy with what he’s seen from the Spaniard since coming back to the Irons.
The manager indicated that the midfielder will be involved in some capacity for his side versus the Toffees.
Moyes said: “I thought in the game he played for us against Bournemouth he did very well. I think that any Spanish player coming to the Premier League takes time to adjust and when you’re a young one, it’s even more so, but I think he’s got big potential.
I think he’s someone we’re looking forward to working with for years to come, and hopefully he’ll continue to improve. We don’t have that big a squad and our numbers are quite tight at the moment, so I think there’s a good chance he could be involved in the squad, yes.”
There were also further injury updates on Michail Antonio, Felipe Anderson and Arthur Masuaku from the manager.
Moyes added: “At the moment, Michail has not trained with us. He joined a little bit this morning. I’m hoping we can get him back, but I couldn’t be sure that it will be this weekend.
“We’ve got an injury to Felipe Anderson as well which might mean that he might make it or he might not, but we’ve got a doubt at the moment. He got a bad fall with ten minutes to go in the game against Sheffield United, so we’re assessing that at the moment. It’s his ribs because he fell heavily from that tackle. We’re getting him checked.
“Also, Arthur has got a little bit of fluid in his knee, which we’ve drained, and we’re seeing how that is as well.”
