Julen Lopetegui given West Ham United boost as Liverpool pair ruled out
Julen Lopetegui has been given a boost ahead of the clash between West Ham United and Liverpool on Sunday.
The Hammers welcome the league leaders to the London Stadium on 29 December as Lopetegui’s side hope to continue moving up the table.
With the Reds unbeaten in 13 Premier League games, the Irons boss will no doubt be looking towards this as a tough test, although the latest team news from Anfield could help to ease some of the pain.
Speaking in his pre-match press conference on Friday (27 December), as per Liverpool’s official website, Arne Slot confirmed that Conor Bradley and Ibrahima Konate will be unavailable for the game.
He said: “They will not be back for West Ham United, but then there is a week in between [before the game against Manchester United] so let’s see how close they are then.”
West Ham prepare to take on Liverpool
Bradley and Konate have been missing from Slot’s squad for a while after they both sustained injuries in November and therefore, Slot has been able to adapt his team to cope without them well by this point.
However, not having these players back in contention when they may have been aiming for this game can only be a positive for Lopetegui as he tries to guide his side to get something from this game.
The odds will inevitably be on Liverpool’s side going into this clash but the Premier League has shown in recent weeks that anyone can get a result anywhere.
After a clean sheet against Southampton, this is something that the Hammers will be keen to build on going forward.
With a number of players including Tomas Soucek and Guido Rodriguez missing for the Hammers on Sunday, as well as Lukasz Fabianski, any blows to the opposition can only help the East London outfit somewhat.
In other West Ham news, Jeff Stelling and Tim Sherwood were left baffled by one player after what he did against Southampton.
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