Alphonse Areola injury update: West Ham United team news v Bayer Leverkusen
David Moyes has confirmed that goalkeeper Alphonse Areola will be unavailable as West Ham take on Bayer Leverkusen in the Europa League quarter-finals.
Moyes also offered an update on two other players, revealing that the timescale for Jarrod Bowen’s return remains unclear, having been forced off early in the second half of the Hammers’ 2-1 win over Wolves.
Meanwhile, on-loan midfielder Kalvin Phillips also appears to have hurt his hamstring in training and the scale of his issue is also not yet known.
In his pre-match press conference, as reported by the Metro, he said: “Jarrod isn’t with us. He’s twisted his knee and there’s some sort of damage. We can’t give any dates of when he might be back, unfortunately. We’re not sure about when he might return at the moment.
“Alphonse Areola isn’t here with us for this one. Kalvin Phillips kicked the back of someone’s leg in training, and we think he’s just tweaked a bit of a lower hamstring, at the back of his knee. I don’t think it’ll be long-term, but it only happened yesterday so I’m not too sure at the moment.”
West Ham must find a way to produce their best despite injuries
The task awaiting West Ham in order to secure progression to the semi-finals of the Europa League is a daunting one.
Xabi Alonso’s Leverkusen side remain – somehow – still unbeaten this season, an astonishing run that has stretched to 41 games.
It is, therefore, a task of seismic proportions for West Ham as they look to be the first team this season to inflict defeat on their Bundesliga opponents in Germany – particularly without star forward Bowen or first-choice goalkeeper Areola.
Lukasz Fabianski is no slouch as a replacement between the sticks, however, while Lucas Paqueta, Mohammed Kudus and Michail Antonio will hope to cause Leverkusen problems even in Bowen’s absence.
James Ward-Prowse could complete the attacking quartet, playing in an advanced midfield role as he did in the first half against Wolves.
Alternatively, Moyes could opt for an unorthodox solution and restore Emerson to the left-wing berth in which he was so impressive for the second half of that contest at Molineux, which would allow Paqueta to play more centrally and Ward-Prowse to operate in a deeper role, with Aaron Cresswell starting at left-back.
Whoever is selected will certainly need to produce their best – or something approaching that – if West Ham are to secure a positive result at the BayArena.
In other West Ham news, a young striker has returned to the club after struggling out on loan.
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