Manuel Lanzini blow adds to West Ham woes as Slaven Bilic faces injury crisis

Lanzini is set to miss out against Huddersfield
West Ham United via Getty Images
Ken Dyer6 September 2017

Under-pressure West Ham manager Slaven Bilic is facing an injury crisis ahead of Monday night’s crucial Premier League clash against Huddersfield.

The Hammers boss, whose team have yet to pick up a point after three matches, saw playmaker Manuel Lanzini pull out of Argentina’s squad for last night’s World Cup clash against Venezuela with a recurrence of the knee injury that affected his pre-season.

Midfielder Edimilson Fernandes, who has featured in all three League matches so far, sprained an ankle playing for Switzerland Under-21s, while striker Andre Ayew injured a thigh with Ghana.

Neither are expected to have recovered in time to make Bilic’s squad.

In addition to the injured trio, summer signing Marko Arnautovic will be missing as he completes his three-match ban after being sent off against Southampton.

The beleaguered Bilic has been plagued by a long injury list for some months but was finally looking forward to fielding almost his first-choice starting line-up against a Huddersfield side that have yet to concede a League goal.

Despite the latest blow to Bilic, there was better news over injury-plagued striker Andy Carroll, who is expected to be fit to play, probably from the bench, while New Zealand captain Winston Reid should have recovered from a calf strain in time to face the top-flight newcomers.