West Ham United manager David Moyes thinks centre-back Kurt Zouma will miss “a few weeks” of action but has not ruled him out for the rest of the season.
The French centre-back was forced off early on in the Hammers’ 4-3 defeat to Crystal Palace on Saturday after suffering an ankle ligament injury in his attempts to slide and block Jordan Ayew’s shot to make it 1-1 at Selhurst Park.
Zouma was pictured leaving the game on Saturday in a protective boot and ahead of Wednesday night’s trip to Manchester City, Moyes said that while he expects the 28-year-old to miss a few weeks of action, the club are still assessing him.
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“We’ve got one or two knocks and niggles,” said Moyes. “Kurt Zouma is the biggest fear, we think we might lose Kurt for a few weeks, but we’re still sort of assessing his ankle at the minute.”
The Premier League season finishes in 26 days' time when West Ham travel to face relegation-threatened rivals Leicester City at the King Power Stadium.
West Ham will be hoping that gets extended by ten days and it will do so if Moyes’ side reach the Europa Conference League final in Prague on June 7.
Asked if Zouma would be back in time for that potential final, Moyes said it was hard to put an exact date on his recovery, given how he has proved to be a quick healer when returning from other issues.
“I wouldn’t want to say just now because I’m not the medical man, but Kurt is a bit different,” added Moyes. “Kurt is incredibly good at getting himself ready and back fit. We’re hoping he will be fine.”
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