Slaven Bilic’s injury crisis is deepening at West Ham ahead of Saturday’s clash against Liverpool.
Slaven Bilic has told the London Evening Standard that five senior West Ham players will miss Saturday’s clash against Liverpool as pressure increases on the Croat’s shoulders to get a positive result.
West Ham have won just once in their last five Premier League matches, and the under-fire manager will be desperate to see his side silence some of the critics with three points against Jurgen Klopp’s side.
However, his chances of masterminding an unlikely win against Liverpool have taken a huge blow after informing media in his press conference on Thursday afternoon that five players would miss the clash.
Pablo Zabaleta is suspended, while his replacement Sam Byram has suffered an injury to his quadricep. The former Leeds ace suffered the injury in training, while Michail Antonio has also picked up a knock from training and will miss out.
The trio join James Collins and Jose Fonte on the sidelines, who are both long-term absentees. However, Bilic did have a bit of good news to tell as Winston Reid and Aaron Cresswell returned to training.
“We have a few (injuries), Zabaleta is suspended – Collins has been injured for a few weeks now. From the game against Palace, Fonte,” Bilic said. “From training we have two, Antonio and Byram.
“Byram should be out for four or five weeks, Antonio should be back for Watford after the international break. Reid was injured for Palace but he and Cresswell trained and should be okay for Liverpool.”
Despite their injury woes, West Ham can take confidence from the fact that they appear to be Liverpool’s bogey in team in recent years, with the Reds only achieving victory once in the last six matches between the two sides.
Three points for the Hammers could see the east Londoners rise to 13th place in the Premier League, if West Brom, Stoke City and Huddersfield Town all drop points.
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