Kurt Zouma and Gianluca Scamacca ruled out of West Ham United Premier League clash v Manchester City
David Moyes has confirmed that West Ham will be without Kurt Zouma and Gianluca Scamacca for their Premier League clash with Manchester City.
The Hammers sit four points above the relegation zone with a game in hand and just five games remaining in the season, but head to title-chasing City in their next game on Wednesday (3 May).
But to get points they’ll need to do it without two key players after Zouma was ruled out with the ankle injury he picked up in the defeat to Crystal Palace, while Scamacca remains out after knee surgery last month.
“We’ve got one or two knocks and niggles,” he said, as quoted by Football.London (2 May).
“Kurt Zouma is the biggest fear, we think we might lose Kurt for a few weeks, but we’re still sort of assessing his ankle at the minute.”
Blow
While our position in the Premier League table looks a lot healthier now after recent results and performances, we’re not safe yet and can’t take it for granted.
That makes the loss of Zouma in particular for the upcoming period even tougher, because he has been our best-performing central defender this season.
His ability on the ball allows the team to build up from the back, but his size also allows the team to defend deep because of how good he is aerially and positionally.
His injury means that Moyes will likely be forced to use Angelo Ogbonna and Nayef Aguerd for all the coming games, and with a lack of options in the middle already it makes the tough tasks even more difficult.
Hopefully he will be able to return before the end of the season, but West Ham will have to find a way to get a big result without two of their best players in key positions.