ExWHUemployee shares West Ham United injury update after loss vs Brighton
West Ham defender Vladimir Coufal will miss Thursday’s clash with Viborg after he suffered a concussion against Brighton, says ExWHUemployee.
Coufal was forced off late in the second half during the defeat at the London Stadium, the Hammers’ third consecutive loss to open the Premier League season.
But speaking on the West Ham Way podcast [August 22], Ex has revealed that he should be fine for the weekend game against Aston Villa while Craig Dawson is nearing a return too.
“Obviously Coufal left the pitch yesterday [Sunday] and it appeared to be a serious injury, but apparently and I haven’t had this 100% confirmed but apparently it was concussion,” he said.
“So he was actually knocked out. He will be fine to play against Aston Villa because you have a six-day rule with concussions, that if you have concussion in a match you can’t play for six [days] because you have to check that it’s okay and no serious brain damage has been sustained.
“That does put him out of Thursday’s game, so it will be interesting to see what we do for that, but it does mean he will be available for Aston Villa so that’s a relief.
“Also back in training is Longelo. The relevance of that is that he could come back into the squad, although I don’t think Moyes particularly rates him and I wouldn’t be surprised if he leaves the club really soon.
“Craig Dawson is getting nearer to a return. There’s a possibility he could be back in training this week, so if he is there is an outside chance he could be on the bench maybe for Villa but I think he’s certainly in line to recover in the next couple of weeks.
“That means the only injury we have really at the moment is Aguerd, who obviously is out pretty much until the World Cup so it’s a shame we’re not going to see him.”
Numbers
Obviously it’s been a tough start to the season for the Hammers so far with three defeats in three games for the club in the Premier League, but they’re starting to get back to full strength now.
Starting the first two games with Ben Johnson at centre-back and a not fully-fit Zouma alongside him wasn’t helpful and Thilo Kehrer was thrown in quickly after his arrival despite barely training with the team.
With more time to train and work together West Ham are bound to improve in the next games, and with Dawson getting back to fitness the manager has more options too.
Coufal’s concussion is certainly a blow, but thankfully the Europa Conference League tie with Viborg should be done and dusted after the 3-1 win in the first leg so he won’t be too missed.
If he can recover in time for the weekend then the club could have something resembling a first-choice defence on show against Villa and that should see performances improve.