West Ham will have to wait for Danny Ings to display his goalscoring threat after the striker suffered a minor knee injury during their victory over Everton on Saturday.
Ings made his debut off the bench but faces a short spell on the sidelines after being caught by a late tackle during the game’s dying stages.
West Ham, whose goalscoring issues have left them battling against relegation, bought the England international for £15m from Aston Villa and hope that he can solve their lack of ruthlessness. The injury will come as a huge frustration to David Moyes, who is likely to be without Ings for the next few weeks.
Ings, who is ineligible for West Ham’s trip to Derby in the fourth round of the FA Cup next Monday, is expected to miss league games away to Newcastle on 4 February and at home to Chelsea on 11 February. There is a chance that he could be back for the trip to Tottenham on 19 February, though the home game against Nottingham Forest a week later could be more realistic.
The former Southampton striker has twice sustained long-term knee ligament injuries. To West Ham’s relief, this latest knock is not linked.
As it stands Michail Antonio, who started against Everton, is West Ham’s only fit senior striker. Antonio has scored two league goals this season. Gianluca Scamacca, who joined in a £35.5m from Sassuolo last summer, has also been managing a minor knee problem and is likely to miss the tie against Derby. Scamacca will hope to return against Chelsea.
