West Ham United insider Claret and Hugh are reporting that star players Jarrod Bowen and Lucas Paqueta could be miss their trip to St James’ Park tonight.
Two of their players have already been confirmed as unavailable – Niclas Fullkrug and Mohammed Kudus – but Hammers boss Julien Lopetegui stated in his press conference on Friday that two other unnamed players may be doubts.
It’s not clear if they will definitely miss out or face late injury tests ahead of the game, but both Bowen and Paqueta are incredibly important to this struggling West Ham side, so to have them potentially missing would be a huge blow.
In a piece posted last night, Claret and Hugh said: ‘Rumours today from a couple of sources make for a big Lopetegui worry indeed – the identities of the ‘two little problems’ are believed to be captain Jarrod Bowen and midfielder Lucas Paquetá: As if the hill to climb wasn’t steep enough for Lopetegui’s must-win game, the prospect of doing so without his Captain and Senior Pro makes it a positive mountain.’
Nothing is confirmed, and even if they are the two unnamed players, they could both still make the game, but the suggestion that they are not fully fit should fill us with more confidence, especially with Kudus already ruled out.
It does feel like it could be perfect conditions for a big win at St James’ Park under the lights with the fans in full voice and the team in good form. Hopefully the players can follow through with it and not complacency creeps as we aim to make it four wins on the spin in all competitions.
I think it’s called gamesmanship Eddie does it all the time so I’d expect both to play
Absolutely glorious(Quote)
They’ll both be there, no doubt at all.
davewallace(Quote)