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Vladimir Coufal and Gianluca Scamacca ruled out, Angelo Ogbonna doubtful - Confirmed team news for West Ham United v Brentford
West Ham United will be without Gianluca Scamacca and Vladimir Coufal for their Premier League clash with Brentford, and Angelo Ogbonna is a doubt too.
Scamacca is out for the rest of the season with a knee problem picked up on international duty back in March, while Coufal is struggling with a hamstring problem picked up in the loss to Manchester City.
And the Czech Republic international won’t be available for the game in west London on Sunday (14 May), but Moyes has revealed he is back jogging again and hoping to get back on the pitch quickly.
“He is starting to do some light jogging,” he said, as quoted by Ben Dinnery (12 May). “He has got a slight hamstring tweak but he is a boy who wants to play and wants to get back quickly.”
Moyes also confirmed that Ogbonna missed the Europa Conference League semi-final win with illness and may miss the weekend too.
“I am not sure yet. He [Ogbonna] has come in this morning and is not feeling great. We will have to see how he is.
“The sickness was a real blow for us before the Man City game and it has just stayed about. I am hoping Angelo will be OK.”
Blow
The absence of Scamacca has been known for a while and Michail Antonio has stepped up in his absence to find himself in the best goalscoring season of his career to date.
But Ogbonna’s absence is an issue as it means that Kurt Zouma has been rushed back in central defence, while Coufal’s injury means there has been shuffling around in the back line.
Thilo Kehrer has deputised well so far and been strong down the flank, while Ben Johnson presents a good alternative for the position too.
However it takes away the option of a back five for Moyes should he want to use it because neither player can play at wing-back and you can argue that Coufal is the best of the bunch in a traditional back four too.
Hopefully Ogbonna can recover in time for the game to make the West Ham team stronger and also we can see Coufal back for the semi-final next week, but first we have to completely secure our Premier League status with a positive result at Brentford.