David Moyes is hopeful of welcoming Michail Antonio back to action for West Ham’s Premier League clash with Sheffield United on Monday while Jarrod Bowen is also fit to feature, as he told Football London.
Just days after the January window slammed shut, West Ham’s failed pursuit of a new number nine was exposed in rather brutal fashion.
With Antonio resting his weary limbs back home, this season’s surprise packages lacked anything resembling a cutting edge during a dire 1-0 FA Cup defeat to Manchester United.
Neither Andriy Yarmolenko nor Mipo Odubeko managed to replicate Antonio’s ‘human cannonball’ approach to centre-forward play at Old Trafford.
So West Ham fans will be breathing an almighty sigh of relief after learning that their all-action frontman could return against Chris Wilder’s relegation-threatened Blades.
“Hopefully he will be very close for Monday,” Moyes said of Antonio, who bagged two assists in the impressive 3-1 win at Aston Villa recently.
The Hammers faithful may have been concerned to see Bowen subbed off after just 45 minutes in Manchester but it seems they needn’t have worried.
“Jarrod is fine – it was a tactical change (to take him off against United),” Moyes added.
Perhaps the best news of all, however, concerned Angelo Ogbonna – one of the most in-form defenders in the whole of the Premier League at present.
“It’s a big blow, he has been magnificent and his leadership as well. I don’t have a time frame on it, we want him back quickly but my understanding is he doesn’t need surgery,” Moyes said when asked about the Italian’s ankle issue.
“Hopefully I might know more in a few days.”
The Scot was less optimistic about the fitness of Fabien Balbuena, while Yarmolenko is suffering from a knee problem.
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