David Moyes has confirmed that Ben Johnson will miss Saturday’s Premier League match away to Chelsea.
The versatile defender was substituted early on in last weekend’s league win at Aston Villa and was not included in the matchday squad for Wednesday’s draw at London Stadium with Tottenham Hotspur.
Moyes also suggested that Italian forward Gianluca Scamacca – who missed Wednesday’s match due to illness - and defender Aaron Cresswell would also be subject to late decisions as to their availability.
Speaking to his pre-match press conference, the manager said: “Ben Johnson is not available. We’re still waiting to see how Gianluca is and we’re still waiting to see how Aaron Cresswell is.
“It will be late decisions on both of them.”
Club record signing Lucas Paquetá made his debut for West Ham from the bench against Spurs in the midweek fixture, coming off the bench to a rapturous reception from the Claret and Blue Army.
Moyes was delighted with the Brazilian’s efforts in Wednesday’s match and provided further insight into how the 25-year-old was settling into east London.
“Settling in is always going to be difficult for any player coming in,” Moyes added. “His English is very limited at the moment. But overall, he is in and trained yesterday and we want to get him involved. You could see the impact he had on Wednesday.
“But we also want to be fair. We don’t want to be pushing someone in and be expecting something so special right away. We want to give him a chance to get to know the players, how we play, and the Premier League. Getting him to know how the league can be is probably the biggest thing.”
