West Ham United injury update as Kurt Zouma’s absence v Crystal Palace explained
West Ham United captain Kurt Zouma missed the Irons’ clash with Crystal Palace because of personal reasons rather than injury, according to Claret and Hugh.
The outlet reported on its website on Sunday (3 December) that the Frenchman did not miss the 1-1 draw at the London Stadium because of a new issue with his knee that has limited his ability to train and play in midweek matches.
However, the Hammers have suggested that more news will be revealed over the next few days explaining why Zouma wasn’t available, with hopes that he will be fit and ready to start the clash with Tottenham on Thursday 7 December.
Need him back
West Ham could certainly do with their captain being back among the starting XI sooner rather than later as their defence didn’t look anywhere near as solid with Konstantinos Mavropanos at the heart of the backline as they have done with Zouma in recent weeks.
The Greek defender made the mistake that led to Palace’s equaliser but otherwise had a fairly reasonable game, winning 11 of the 12 duels that he contested both in the air and on the ground, also coming away with the ball in two of his three tackles.
While it is frustrating to be without Zouma on Sunday, Hammers supporters will be relieved to learn that the Frenchman didn’t miss out as a result of injury. The 29-year-old has missed a huge number of games across his Irons’ career with injury and it has almost become expected that he’ll spend large spells on the sidelines.
The games continue to come thick and fast for David Moyes’ side over the next few weeks in the run-up to Christmas and the Scotsman will want his best players fit and available as often as possible. Hopefully, whatever personal struggles Zouma is facing will ease sooner rather than later.
With Spurs looming on Thursday, Zouma will be hoping he can finally feature in a midweek clash having not played a single minute in the Europa League this year.
In other West Ham news, Jamie O’Hara and Jason Cundy have offered their verdict on whether or not Moyes should be sacked