West Ham have had fears over an injury to Lucas Paqueta confirmed with the Brazilian set to miss out on four weeks of action to recover from a calf injury.
The 26-year-old appeared to have made a miraculously quick recovery from injury last weekend as he featured in the starting XI for the FA Cup draw with Bristol City. Paqueta lifted a beautiful ball to Jarrod Bowen in the first 10 minutes to open the scoring but hit the deck minutes later and hobbled off the pitch to be replaced by Divin Mubama.
reports that Paqueta will see a specialist for further assessments of the calf issue but will be out of action for at least a month. That means the talent will not feature in the FA Cup replay at Bristol City nor in upcoming Premier League matches against Sheffield United and Manchester United. He could also be unavailable for the fixture against Arsenal on February
It gives David Moyes a crisis up front with Jarrod Bowen also set for a spell on the sidelines. The England international completed the match against Bristol City but was seen being helped off by two medical staff after full-time. The extent of his injury is yet to be confirmed but the results of a scan are believed to be ‘not positive’
West Ham are also without Mohammed Kudus who is fighting a hamstring injury and is also due to represent Ghana at the Africa Cup of Nations. Michail Antonio, who has not played since November with a knee injury has also suffered a setback that will see him absent for another six weeks.
It’s a sucker-punch for Moyes, whose Hammers side had risen into the top six after three wins and a draw in their last four league matches. The West Ham boss does have options in Said Benrahma, Maxwel Cornet, Danny Ings and Divin Mubama who can lead the line – but those players do not have a single first-team goal between them this season.
