Gianluca Scamacca hands David Moyes major West Ham…

Gianluca Scamacca hands David Moyes major West Ham boost ahead of Chelsea fixture

West Ham United held an open training session on Friday afternoon ahead of facing Chelsea at Stamford Bridge on Saturday.

David Moyes’ side going into the game off the back of a run of three matches unbeaten in all competitions, beating Viborg and Aston Villa prior to Wednesday night’s draw with Tottenham Hotspur.

football.london was able to watch the first 15 minutes of training ahead of the London derby on Saturday and here some of the things that happened during the session.

Gianluca Scamacca trains

Italian striker Gianluca Scamacca is a doubt for the game having missed much of training this week due to a virus. However, a boost for Moyes’ side is that the former Sassuolo man trained on Friday.

However, Ben Johnson (hamstring) did not train and will miss the game, a blow considering the defensive issues at present. Another player who did not train is left-back Aaron Cresswell, who has been playing through a groin injury recently.

Another player who trained is centre-back Craig Dawson, who saw a permanent move to Wolverhampton Wanderers for £4million (rising to £6m in add-ons) fall through, with West Ham unable to find a late replacement for him. Dawson is currently working towards full fitness after missing every match this season so far with a quad issue.

Manuel Lanzini’s punishment

There were a few pre-session rondos going on ahead of the start of training that ended up getting very competitive.

A group consisting of Manuel Lanzini, Michail Antonio, Vladimir Coufal and Tomas Soucek were all doing a keepie-uppie challenge, with the loser getting punished, with Darren Randolph also eagerly watching on.

Lanzini was on the receiving end of what are meant to be flicks to the ear, but a few firm slaps to the back of the neck from Soucek and Coufal soon followed.

Later on, Lucas Paqueta and one of the club’s backroom staff joined in, with the duo getting plenty of love from their new teammates. Antonio shouted “fifty million pounds” at one point shortly after Paqueta’s arrival.

The French connection

Last to join for the rondos before the start of the session was a group of French-based players in Said Benrahma, Maxwel Cornet, Kurt Zouma and Alphonse Areola, with former Paris Saint-Germain centre-back Thilo Kehrer appearing just before.

The group of them clearly get on very well and like the rest of the camp, were in good spirits ahead of the session taking place.

Whilst working their way around small hurdles, Zouma knocked one of them over, leading to some light-hearted ribbing from Kehrer, who reminded him to “bounce” his way through the mini obstacle course.

Kehrer is already a very vocal member of the group and his English is excellent, while fellow arrivals Scamacca, Cornet and Flynn Downes are among those who have settled in very quickly already.

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