West Ham United manager David Moyes expects to be without forward Felipe Anderson for the visit of Burnley on Wednesday evening, while Sebastien Haller will need to be assessed closer to kick-off.
The Hammers are in the middle of an intense period of five Premier League fixtures in the space of fourteen days, having put in improved displays to pick up four points from their previous two games against Chelsea and Newcastle.
Haller has been out of action since the season restart due to injury but has been training recently, the West Ham manager confirmed, while Felipe Anderson has been unavailable since injuring his hamstring in the warm-up against Chelsea.
“Sebastien Haller’s doing better,” Moyes revealed at his pre-match press conference.
“He’s trained yesterday. We’ll see how he is when we finish training today to see how he comes through, but he’s certainly getting closer to being available. Whether he’s ready to play is a different thing.
“I saw Felipe Anderson jogging yesterday, but he won’t be available for the Burnley game. He’s got a very slight hamstring tweak – a grade one hamstring tweak – which normally can keep you out for ten to fourteen days.
“It’s not something he’s had before so we’re hoping that it’s not too serious, and we can have him back available quite shortly.”
With the postponement of the Premier League season dictating that fixtures become more condensed over June and July, squad depth has become the focus of many a top-flight manager, with Burnley facing injury worries of their own ahead of tomorrow night’s match.
The Hammers recently welcomed back Angelo Ogbonna from a minor injury for the win against Chelsea, but have been without Haller and Robert Snodgrass since the season’s resumption – absences which Moyes discussed further looking ahead to Burnley.
“I think that a few clubs have been hit hard with different injuries,” Moyes expanded.
“For the early games we didn’t have Angelo Ogbonna. We’ve not had Seb Haller or Robert Snodgrass, who’s important to us as well, so we’ve missed those players.
“It’s a bit like after a pre-season. Most clubs come back with a few injuries, whether they pick them up during training or they pick them up in pre-season friendlies, so it quite often happens.
“I think we all knew there were going to be injuries, but hopefully we’ll be okay. I know that Burnley have had a brilliant season, Sean Dyche’s done another great job, and hopefully he’s not that interested in this game!”
