Vladimir Coufal suspended for League Cup clash v Tottenham
West Ham have confirmed on their official website that Vladimir Coufal is unavailable for selection for this week’s League Cup clash against Tottenham Hotspur.
The Czech Republic international right-back is suspended for this Wednesday’s (22 December) fifth-round tie at Spurs after he was sent-off at Arsenal last Wednesday (15 December).
Coufal was initially set to miss Saturday’s (18 December) league game against Norwich City, but the game was called-off and postponed due to the Canaries having an insufficient number of players available due to COVID-19, injuries and other illnesses.
Not good
David Moyes’ squad is thin at right-back at the moment, with both Ben Johnson and Ryan Fredericks unavailable due to injuries.
It leaves West Ham with Harrison Ashby as the only player available, and whether the manager would be keen to trust the 20-year-old against Spurs in such an important game remains to be seen.
The Hammers will be keen to book a place in the semi-finals of the competition, and having knocked out Manchester United and Manchester City in the last two rounds, going out to Tottenham would be disappointing.
West Ham could be forced to play a back-three if no senior right-back is available for the game, and that could see one of the defensive midfielders move to the position.
With a chance to win silverware on the line, Moyes will be keen to name his strongest XI for the trip to North London.
Ashby only made his Premier League debut against the Gunners, coming off the bench to replace Pablo Fornals with 16 minutes left on the clock.
He made his first-team debut against Dinamo Zagreb in the Europa League dead rubber two weeks ago (9 December), playing all 90 minutes, but has he done enough to justify starting such an important clash?
In other West Ham news, an amazing attacker is making personal arrangements for Hammers switch in January.
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