David Moyes will be without Ryan Fredericks through injury when West Ham United host Rapid Vienna in the Europa League on Thursday night, according to the Evening Standard.
The Hammers will look to claim their second group stage win at the London Stadium after beating Dinamo Zagreb 2-0. The result put West Ham top of Group H on goal difference to Genk, who beat Rapid Vienna 1-0.
Fredericks opened the Stadion Maksimir affair a fortnight ago and returned to the starting XI against Manchester United in the Carabao Cup last week. But the 28-year-old sustained a groin injury early on, which forced Moyes into making a change after only 17-minutes.
Fredericks’ injury kept the £40k-a-week full-back out of action when West Ham beat Leeds last Saturday. He is yet to feature in the Premier League since a brief two-minute cameo on the opening day against Newcastle.
Moyes was unsure how long West Ham would be without Fredericks before the Hammers’ trip to Elland Road. But he remains absent from group training and is working alone, with a return unlikely until after the international break.
“Fredericks is the only player we have major concerns over,” the West Ham boss said, via football.london last week. “He felt his groin and he won’t be fit for this game [at Leeds]. I am not sure how serious Ryan’s [injury] is.”
Coufal to make Europa League bow with Fredericks missing for West Ham
Moyes started Fredericks in West Ham’s debut Europa League group stage fixture to afford regular first-choice Vladimir Coufal a rest. The Hammers boss will likely now have to hand the Czech right-back his bow in the competition for the Irons.
Coufal has featured 25 times in the Europa League in his career between spells with Slovan Liberec and Slavia Prague. He also played six games in the Champions League proper with Slavia before leaving the Czech side for east London.
Moyes has rarely looked away from his bargain £5.5m workhorse since the transfer. Coufal took over West Ham’s right-back position from Fredericks after a hamstring injury and has now made 43 appearances.
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