David Moyes has injury concerns over Angelo Ogbonna and Arthur Masuaku ahead of West Ham’s trip to St James’ Park on Sunday.
The Hammers Premier League campaign gets underway at 2pm on Sunday, August 15 against Newcastle United and the manager is set to be without his two defenders.
Ogbonna retains an outside chance of being involved in the fixture but with no match minutes under his belt since picking up a hamstring injury against Celtic on July 24 a start for the Italian is unlikely.
Masuaku has seen no first-team action during pre-season but the 27-year-old got 45 minutes of action for the U23 team against Aldershot Town on July 30. The DR Congo international is continuing to work on his fitness with an individual regime with hopes he will be available for selection in the coming weeks.
Video Unavailable
There is some good news on the injury front for Moyes with Jarrod Bowen returning to the matchday squad on Saturday after missing the clash with Brentford.
The 24-year-old did not feature at the Brentford Community Stadium as a precaution but was fit enough to take his place on the bench against Atalanta and complete 27 minutes of second-half action.
Manuel Lanzini sat out the clash versus Atalanta as a precaution with football.london understanding the issue is not serious and the Argentine is in contention for the trip to Newcastle.
Third choice goalkeeper Darren Randolph was not involved against Atalanta with the club understood to be open to offers for the Irishman following the arrival of Alphonse Areola.
Ahead of the new season, the Premier League confirmed that nine substitutes will be permitted in the matchday squad but the cap remains at three per match unlike the five that were allowed during Euro 2020.
Why should you sign up?
In each football.london West Ham bulletin, we’ll be bringing you the latest breaking news, transfer features and comment pieces, as well as the key talking points for fans.
We’ll also send special newsletters when big stories break or there’s a special event happening.
How do you sign up?
It’s easy and only takes seconds.
Simply type your email address into the box at the top of this article – or any article on the West Ham section of football.london in fact – labelled ‘Get the biggest daily stories by email’ and click ‘Subscribe’.
And that’s it, you’re all set.
If you decide later that you no longer wish to receive the emails, simply follow the unsubscribe link in one of the newsletters – but we don’t think you’ll want to.
For more details, click here.
As with the 2020-21 Europa League, this season’s competition will once again see manager’s allowed five changes per match.
West Ham will find out their group stage opponents on August 27 with the Hammers competition getting underway on September, 16.