Vladimir Coufal and Maxwel Cornet ruled out – West Ham United confirmed team news v AEK Larneca
West Ham will be without Vladimir Coufal and Maxwel Cornet for their trip to AEK Larneca in the Europa Conference League, David Moyes has confirmed.
Czech defender Coufal is suffering with plantar fascia and is unavailable for the game, while Cornet is set to travel with the squad but Moyes is not expecting him to be able to play until after the international break.
In more positive news Michail Antonio has recovered from a hamstring injury and Angelo Ogbonna has recovered from a knee injury to both travel to Cyprus for the game, while Thilo Kehrer is over an illness to be available too.
Lukasz Fabianski continues to be out injured too with a fractured cheekbone and eye socket, while Gianluca Scamacca is ready for more minutes following his recent injury troubles.
Strong
West Ham need wins to build momentum after their shocking form in the Premier League, and the Europa Conference League could prove to be a great stepping stone for that.
The group stages of this tournament was used to rotate the team and they still racked up enough wins to top the group, but now in the knockout stages of the cup with the season being nearer to the end it’s needed to get results now.
Getting the strikers on the pitch and scoring goals can help them find form in the league, while clean sheets for the defenders is always a confidence builder too.
The level of competition is low and West Ham should be able to get the jobs done and rest players with time to spare too, but bringing a strong squad and allowing them to play with less pressure is a good way to help their mentality.
With Cornet returning to fitness soon and other players coming back from injury, David Moyes has got little excuse to not get a result in this tournament and start pushing towards results in the Premier League too.