Moyes hopeful ailing West Ham trio might return for Man United conflict
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avid Moyes has provided additional particulars on the bout of sickness that noticed three key gamers dominated out of West Ham’s 3-0 defeat at Manchester City, with a workers member additionally affected.
A wave of sickness swept through the Hammers’ squad in a single day, inflicting midfield duo Declan Rice and Tomas Soucek and Moroccan defender Nayef Aguerd all to be despatched dwelling earlier on Wednesday.
Moyes was left with a depleted squad and introduced within the likes of Angelo Ogbonna, Aaron Cresswell, Thilo Kehrer and Flynn Downes in a makeshift 5-4-1 formation, in addition to naming two goalkeepers on a seven-man bench.
West Ham defended resolutely within the first half in opposition to City, however unanswered objectives by Nathan Ake, Erling Haaland and Phil Foden noticed Pep Guardiola’s aspect return to the highest of the Premier League desk.
Expanding additional on the illness bug in his post-match press convention, Moyes mentioned: “Two of them we’re not sure if it’s food poisoning. One of them we think is a virus. Hopefully they’ll have a chance [to face Manchester United at] the weekend.
Sidelined: Tomas Soucek and Declan Rice both missed West Ham’s defeat at the Etihad
/ Getty Images“There was another staff member with the same sickness as well, so that’s why we were worried that it was either food poisoning or worse.
“I knew in the morning that there had been sickness. One of them had a really high temperature. One of them had to go away at 11 o’clock and the other two at 2 o’clock, when they weren’t getting any better.”
Moyes additionally confirmed that an obvious hamstring damage suffered by right-back Vladimir Coufal on the Etihad could be assessed on Thursday, with the supervisor hoping that it’s not too dangerous.
Moyes was happy with components of the efficiency by his relegation-threatened aspect in opposition to City, however wasn’t impressed by their lack of chew within the last third.
“For whole periods against a really good team, we made it quite difficult,” he mentioned. “All in all, it’s not a good result. Performances at this time of the year don’t matter, certainly not as much as they do at the beginning [of the season].”
Told by reporters that Guardiola had praised West Ham’s defence, Moyes replied: “I wish he was praising our attacking play as well, but I couldn’t say that [was likely]. Our defensive structure was very good today.
“We didn’t cause them enough problems. We’ve got to remember, Bayern Munich, who are a great team, have turned up here and been turned over. Arsenal have come here and been turned over.
“To concede the set-piece was galling, because we had done a really good job for long periods and we were going to have to do it again. Maybe tonight we just didn’t have the stature that we’ve had in other games.”
Reflecting on Ake’s unmarked header from a free-kick which was City’s opener within the second half, Moyes admitted: “It was a poor one against a side who can score some great ones.”