Photo of Craig Mercer / MB Media /.
David Moyes is hoping to welcome Michail Antonio into action for West Ham’s Premier League clash with Sheffield United on Monday, while Jarrod Bowen is also in a position to take part, as he told Football London.
Just days after the January window slammed shut, West Ham’s failed search for a new number nine was exposed in a rather brutal way.
With Antonio resting his weary limbs at home, this season’s surprise packages lacked anything of a cutting edge during the terrible 1-0 FA Cup loss to Manchester United.
What if Manchester United weren’t a league club? Football Manager 2021 experiment
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Neither Andriy Yarmolenko nor Mipo Odubeko managed to replicate Antonio’s “human cannonball” approach to the center-forward game at Old Trafford.
So, West Ham fans will breathe great relief after learning that their action leader could return against relegation-threatened Chris Wilder’s Blades.
“Hopefully it’s very close on Monday,” Moyes said of Antonio, who had two assists in an impressive 3-1 win at Aston Villa recently.
The Hammers faithful may have been concerned to see Bowen substituted after just 45 minutes in Manchester, but it seems they shouldn’t have worried.
Photo by JOHN WALTON / POOL /. through .
“Jarrod is fine, it was a tactical change (eliminating him against United),” added Moyes.
Perhaps the best news of all, however, came from Angelo Ogbonna, one of the fittest defenders in the entire Premier League today.
“It is a hard blow, he has been magnificent and his leadership also. I don’t have a time frame for that, we want him to come back quickly, but I understand that he doesn’t need surgery, ”Moyes said when asked about the Italian’s ankle problem.
“I hope I know more in a few days.”
The Scotsman was less optimistic about Fabien Balbuena’s fitness, while Yarmolenko suffers from a knee problem.
Photo by Simon Stacpoole / Offside / Offside via.
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