David Moyes is uncertain as to the availability of captain Mark Noble, Sebastien Haller or Arthur Masuaku for West Ham United’s visit to Newcastle this weekend but is hopeful of being able to call on at least one of them.
Noble, Haller and Masuaku were unable to feature in Wednesday’s 3-2 win over Chelsea at London Stadium, with midfielder Noble missing out due to a slight hamstring injury, while Haller and Masuaku are yet to feature in Claret and Blue since the Premier League restart.
Manager Moyes has confirmed that each of the three Hammers have taken part in aspects of training on the Rush Green pitches over the last couple of days but, while the boss is optimistic that he will have at least one back for the trip to play the Magpies, a final decision on the trio will not be made until Saturday.
[Noble, Haller and Masuaku] are all on the grass and they've all done a bit of training. I'm hoping to have some of them back but we'll know better tomorrow.
David Moyes
Moyes also indicated that Felipe Anderson could miss out, having sustained a slight injury during the pre-game warm-ups on Wednesday evening.
“They’re all on the grass and they’ve all done a bit of training,” Moyes told his pre-match press conference on Haller, Noble and Masuaku. “I’m hoping to have some of them back, but we’ll know better tomorrow. Obviously, we could do with getting them back.
“We’ve also got a slight injury to Felipe Anderson, who hurt his hamstring in the warm-up in the game against Chelsea the other night. He overstretched in the warm-up so we’re looking at him as well.”
Moyes was able to call on Jack Wilshere and Andriy Yarmolenko in the midweek fixture, bringing both off the bench to help secure the victory over Chelsea, with the latter netting the 89th-minute winner.
Yarmolenko’s showing was only his second since Christmas, due to injury, while Wilshere was able to feature for Moyes for the first time at West Ham.
The manager was delighted to be able to call on two players of Wilshere and Yarmokenko’s quality in Wednesday’s match and believes the duo will be useful assets to come in the remaining Premier League contests.
Moyes added: “I think for us to be getting players who are coming off the bench and helping us is really good. I’ve not really had the chance to work with Jack or Yarma since I’ve been here because they were both injured when I arrived, and they were injured until the lockdown as well.
“It has only been since the lockdown that I’ve had the chance to work with them, in the short period we’ve had in that time. What we saw from them both was really encouraging so let’s hope that they both can add to the players we’ve got in the squad at the moment.”
