David Moyes shares West Ham United injury and illness news ahead of showdown v Freiburg
David Moyes has provided an update on his West Ham United squad ahead of their Europa League clash with Freiburg, suggesting he’ll call upon the same players he had available against Fulham.
The Irons are looking to bounce back from their 5-0 thrashing by Marco Silva’s side in their final Europa League group stage game on Thursday 14 December, knowing that a win will see them qualify top of Group A.
However, the Scotsman looks set to be without Alphonse Areola or Michail Antonio who missed the trip to Craven Cottage, while Moyes also admitted that some members of his squad are being impacted by a “lingering” illness in the camp.
Speaking in his pre-match press conference on Wednesday (13 December) he said: “We’ve had a few people with a bit of illness, but that’s all I can give you. The scheduling we’ve had has been difficult and there’s not much time available this time of year.
“Any chance we can give players to have some time to themselves, we’re going to do that. We’ve still got a few lingering in terms of the sickness, but I think we’re going to be okay.
“Team news-wise, I think we’re pretty much where we were.”
Where we were
The good news from a West Ham point of view is that things don’t seem to have got worse from an illness perspective since the Hammers trouncing by Fulham, the bad news is that things on the injury front don’t appear to have got any better.
Missing Areola isn’t that big a blow as Lukasz Fabianski was always likely to start the clash with Freiburg having been a regular feature in Moyes’ starting XI in the Europa League, but having Antonio would have been helpful in this crunch match at the top of the group.
Hopefully, the players who have been struggling with illness will be well enough to pick up all three points at the London Stadium on Thursday. While the Irons have already secured their place in Europe after Christmas, they’d like to avoid extra fixtures with a top-of-the-group finish.
For Moyes’ sake, a win against Freiburg would ease the pressure from some supporters on his own position and after a difficult week in East London, the Scotsman could do with that boost.
In other West Ham news, Chelsea are reportedly desperate to sell Ian Maatsen this January with the Hammers interested in signing him