David Moyes has said that he would have taken parity heading into tomorrow’s night Europa League quarter-final second leg “all day long”. Except the task facing West Ham United in Lyon is complicated by the left side of their defence being absent, with one expected replacement in his secondary position and the other desperately short of action.
There are fears that Kurt Zouma could be sidelined for four weeks after twisting his right ankle in the defeat to Brentford on Sunday afternoon, while left back Aaron Cresswell is suspended after being sent off in the first leg. With Angelo Ogbonna long-term injured, Issa Diop is the only other recognised centre half and he favours playing on the right side. Ben Johnson is the most likely candidate to slot in at left back because it is felt that Arthur Masuaku is more dependable in a five-man system.
Moyes is aware of the defensive imbalance but made a point in his pre-match press conference to stress his confidence in Diop, the French centre back who has completed 90 minutes only three times in the past three months. "Issa's not really let us down,” the manager said. “He's come into the team on different occasions. There was a period when we relied on him. He's always been there or thereabouts, so hopefully if he gets that opportunity, he's able to take it."
The rest of the starting XI will likely remain unchanged from Brentford, aside from Alphonse Areola returning in goal, and Moyes has said that the quality from their performance in the first half last week will “need to rise” if they are to progress to face Barcelona or Eintracht Frankfurt in the last four.
A goal from striker Michail Antonio would certainly help. The Jamaica international has only found the net once since New Year’s Day, in the FA Cup game away to Southampton, but believes he is still contributing in other ways.
"I''m disappointed I've not scored for quite a while,” he said. “But football is not about you personally, it's about being a team player. That's one thing I definitely believe I am doing, bringing players in and assisting goals. So as much as I'm not scoring them, I feel that I am helping out anyway."
There is a feeling that this squad can thrive in the face of adversity with the second half at London Stadium evidence of their tenacity. “We've got a great chance,” Moyes added. “If you'd have given me this, I'd have taken that off you all day long. 1-1 at this stage in the competition is a really powerful position to be in. We've got a wee bit of toughness about us which I think we showed, playing 45 minutes with ten men - let's see what we can do when we've got eleven men."
The Scot was unsurprisingly coy when asked if there were any additional fitness concerns. "I'm not going to give that news out but like Lyon as well, they've got some injury doubts, maybe not,” he said. “I'm sure we're the same. It's the time of the season. We'll need to wait and see how we are tomorrow."
Lyon's preparation has been hampered by injuries to goalkeeper Anthony Lopes and star midfielders Houssem Aouar and Tanguy Ndombele, the Tottenham Hotspur loanee who scored the equaliser in the first leg. They were all sustained in Sunday's draw against Strasbourg. "I'm going to talk to the medical staff about the injuries," head coach Peter Bosz said on Thursday morning. "We'll see if they train with the group this afternoon."
Lopes was pictured taking part in the session alongside Thiago Mendes, who has recovered from a knock. Rayan Cherki, Lenny Pintor and Sinaly Diomande are all confirmed absent, while Maxence Caqueret is likely unavailable due to a knee issue.
Bosz has called on his players to be more clinical in the final third but he expects little to change in terms of the Hammers' approach.
"West Ham will play the same way they did at the London Stadium, I think," he added. "My team have to be prepared for every scenario. I coach my team to win games, but to do so, you have to take shots and score. I hope we will learn from the things we didn't do well in the first leg. The fans will be behind us this time, which makes a big difference. The players must repay our supporters on the pitch."
West Ham predicted team: Alphonse Areola; Vladimir Coufal, Craig Dawson, Issa Diop, Ben Johnson; Tomas Soucek, Declan Rice; Jarrod Bowen, Pablo Fornals, Manuel Lanzini; Michail Antonio.
