David Moyes has confirmed Łukasz Fabiański and Vladimír Coufal will miss West Ham United’s Emirates FA Cup fifth round match away to Manchester United.
The Irons are preparing for a trip to Old Trafford to face a Red Devils side that lifted the Carabao Cup over the weekend, with a place in the quarter-finals at stake.
Speaking on Tuesday morning, Moyes revealed the duo are feeling the effects of injuries sustained in Saturday’s 4-0 Premier League win over Nottingham Forest, with neither set for a return to action due to the quick turnaround between fixtures.
“We’ve got a squad available and ready to go, but we’ve got a few injuries,” Moyes said. “Łukasz Fabiański has got a fractured cheekbone and eye socket. We’ve not got everything decided in terms of whether it will be operated on, or if we allow it to heal itself, but that’s the update on Łukasz.
“Vladimír Coufal has got a heel injury which will keep him out. I think that’s really the two injuries we had from the weekend and, apart from that, the squad is just about what it was.
“We’re actually waiting on a couple of boys who have got knocks as well. It’s a very quick turnaround. If you look at our fixtures, it’s difficult when you have to go to Old Trafford at 7.45pm on a Wednesday and then we’re away to Brighton & Hove Albion on Saturday. This one getting fitted in makes it a little more awkward.”
The Irons will also be without January signing Danny Ings, who is cup-tied for the FA Cup match after previously featuring in the competition this season for former side Aston Villa.
With Ings scoring twice on Saturday, Moyes has hinted that he may call on the other forward who found the net in the 4-0 win over Forest in Michail Antonio, who scored his 100th goal in senior football against his old side.
“Danny Ings is cup-tied, obviously. It was great that Danny scored two goals on Saturday but Michail has got a lot of our goals this season, so it would be no surprise if he was involved.
“We were short up front with the injury to Gianluca Scamacca so we brought Danny in to give us extra cover. To be fair, our goalscoring this season has been letting us down, so we wanted to get someone in who could get us goals and add to what we had.
“It’s just the start for Danny. He got a couple of goals on his first full start which is great for us, and great for him too, so we’re hoping to really build on it and he can keep the goals coming.
“But, for the team, it was great that Michail Antonio and Declan Rice also got goals. We hope everyone else will start chipping in with more goals.”
