David Moyes admits he does not know when Jarrod Bowen will return from injury, but he will certainly miss the Europa League trip to Bayer Leverkusen on Thursday night.
The England forward picked up a knee injury in West Ham’s win at Wolves on Saturday after a heavy challenge from Joao Gomes.
Concerningly for Moyes, and for England boss Gareth Southgate, it is not clear how serious the problem is, with the Hammers manager unable to give a return date.
‘Jarrod isn’t with us. He’s twisted his knee and there’s some sort of damage,’ said Moyes. ‘We can’t give any dates of when he might be back, unfortunately.’
The Scot added: ‘He’s got an injury and he’s not available to play tomorrow night. We’re not sure about when he might return at the moment.
‘We think he’s twisted and he’s probably damaged a bit of something, a bit like a fast bowler gets in cricket. It’s about the rotation, which is where we think the damage has come from.
‘Jarrod will always be a miss because he’s a boy who’s played a big part in memorable games for us, especially in the UEFA Europa Conference League final last year.
‘But, these things happen in football, and we have players ready to come in to try and get the job done for us.’
Moyes also confirmed that Alphonse Areola is out with a groin problem and Kalvin Phillips has a hamstring injury.
‘Alphonse Areola isn’t here with us for this one,’ he said.
‘Kalvin Phillips kicked the back of someone’s leg in training, and we think he’s just tweaked a bit of a lower hamstring, at the back of his knee. I don’t think it’ll be long-term, but it only happened yesterday so I’m not too sure at the moment.’
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