West Ham United dealt injury blow as Gianluca Scamacca forced off during Fulham friendly
West Ham may be without Gianluca Scamacca for their Premier League return on Boxing Day after the Italian came off injured during Saturday’s friendly against Fulham.
The Hammers rounded off their winter training with a short trip to Craven Cottage to take on their Premier League rivals, and it was nothing but friendly.
David Moyes named a strong starting lineup that included a front three of Jarrod Bowen, Said Benrahma and Scamacca.
But before the trio really got going, the 23-year-old Italian was forced off in the 12th minute through injury, with Flynn Downes coming off the bench to replace him.
West Ham announced the substitution via Twitter, with the post reading: “Scamacca is forced off after a bad tackle. Downes replaces him.”
Disaster
With Kurt Zouma recovering from surgery and Nayef Aguerd suffering an injury in the World Cup, Myes would’ve just wanted to get through the Fulham friendly without any more key players heading to the treatment room.
Scamacca would have been hoping to kick on in the second half of the season after an underwhelming start to his West Ham career. He performed well in the Europa Conference League but struggled to adapt to the Premier League.
With Moyes under huge pressure to turn things around at the London Stadium and push West Ham back up the table, losing his star striker just over a week before the trip to Arsenal will have him sweating.
Michail Antonio was nowhere to be seen in the squad to play Fulham, but Moyes will now be relying on him to lead the line for the Hammers against the Gunners on Boxing Day if Scamacca’s injury turns out to be serious.
Hopefully Scamacca makes a quick recovery and can return to the starting lineup sooner rather than later, but the initial description of the tackle has every West Ham fan worried.