West Ham United manager David Moyes believes two of his players missed the defeat to Manchester City on Wednesday night due to potential food poisoning, and another, due to a virus.
The Hammers were left with three late squad withdrawals hours before their 3-0 loss to the Premier League leaders City at the Etihad Stadium, with captain Declan Rice, centre-back Nayef Aguerd and midfielder Tomas Soucek all leaving the squad hours before kick-off due to illness.
It left West Ham with just 18 players in their matchday squad as second-half goals from Nathan Ake, Erling Haaland and Phil Foden sealed the victory, three of which were goalkeepers.
READ MORE: West Ham boss David Moyes makes Arsenal point as he delivers Man City and Pep Guardiola verdict
Speaking on the trio’s absence, Moyes said that one of the three is struggling with a virus, while two more may have food poisoning, adding that one member of staff was also absent.
“I knew in the morning that there had been sickness and one of them had a real high temperature.,” said Moyes. “One of them had to go away at 11 o’clock and the other two at left at two o’clock today, once they weren’t going to get any better.
“We had given them a chance in the morning to recover, sleep longer, see how they were. They were in Manchester with the rest of the team so we had to send them away in cars later this afternoon to go home.
“There was another staff member who had sickness as well so that’s why we were worried if it was a bug or food poisoning, we weren’t sure what it was.”
The triple blow comes with a meeting against Manchester United next on the schedule at the London Stadium on Sunday night.
Moyes had said that he hopes the trio are back in contention, but cannot confirm if they will be.
“I have got to hope that they are, two of them we are not sure if it is maybe a bit of food poisoning that they have maybe picked up at the training ground or whether it was at the hotel and one them we think has got a virus,” added Moyes.
“I’m not a doctor, I don’t know if antibiotics can fix it that quickly or how you work it, I’m not quite sure.
“Hopefully, they will have a chance for the weekend. Hopefully, they will have a chance for the weekend.”
READ NEXT
West Ham and Tottenham set for Premier League 2 decider as relegation battle goes to the wire
David Moyes makes Man City claim over West Ham’s Declan Rice amid Arsenal transfer links
‘Anything can happen’ - Man City’s Pep Guardiola delivers West Ham verdict ahead of clash
Ex-West Ham and Man United star Rio Ferdinand responds to Premier League Hall of Fame induction
The bizarre reason David Moyes missed Leicester’s Everton draw amid West Ham relegation fight
