David Gold took to Twitter with encouraging news of a major injury boost for struggling West Ham United but the club’s head medic is not so certain.
West Ham United manager Slaven Bilic
Slaven Bilic‘s side have lost five of their opening seven Premier League matches, picking up just four points from 21 so far.
The Hammers were also embarrassingly dumped out of the Europa League by Romanian minnows Astra Giurgiu for the second season running.
They have suffered what seems to be an annual glut of injuries to key players which has not helped with the likes of Andy Carroll, new club record signing Andre Ayew, Aaron Cresswell and Diafra Sakho all unavailable so far.
The Hammers travel to Crystal Palace after the international break before welcoming Sunderland to the London Stadium a week later.
West Ham co-owner David Gold
So when the club’s co-owner David Gold took to social networking site Twitter on Sunday evening with news of an unexpected boost on the injury front it warmed the hearts of fed up supporters.
Gold said: “Carroll and Cresswell could be available for the Palace game and Ayew the week after.”
However, it in many ways sums up West Ham’s season so far that less than an hour later the club’s head of medical and sports science Stijn Vandenbroucke released an official injury update which was a lot less certain.
West Ham sicknote Andy Carroll
Speaking on the club’s official website, Vandenbroucke said Cresswell was getting closer to a return to first team training.
But his update suggested Gold had been somewhat premature with regards Carroll and Ayew while Sakho is also some way off.
“(Andre) will return to Rush Green at the weekend. He has been working very hard on the pitch and is ready for the next stage in the rehab, introducing the ball, passing, kicking and faster runnin,” Vandenbroucke told whufc.com.
“Andre will continue working on improving his fitness levels for the next few weeks before he will join controlled introduction sessions with the Under-23s.
Diafra Sakho
“Diafra is progressing well after a week on the training pitch running and working with the ball. He has to build up a lot of fitness after three months out, but the encouraging thing is that he has had no adverse reaction in his back to the hard work he has been putting in. Diafra is working very hard and there is light at the end of the tunnel.
“Finally, Andy Carroll is continuing his rehab.”
It is the final line on Carroll which raises eyebrows too given its lack of detail compared to all the other players mentioned in the update.
West Ham must get things right as their players start to return so Bilic and his staff need to be sure the injuries have completely cleared up before throwing them back into the thick of the action.
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