Get all your news in one place.
100’s of premium titles.
One app.
Start reading
Evening Standard
Evening Standard
Sport
Jonathan Gorrie

West Ham: David Moyes confirms major fitness boost ahead of visit of Manchester United

Declan Rice, Tomas Soucek and Nayef Aguerd are all in line to return for West Ham ahead of Sunday’s Premier League meeting with Manchester United.

David Moyes’ first-choice trio were absent for the 3-0 defeat at Manchester City after a sickness bug swept through the Hammers’ camp.

All three travelled to Manchester only to be sent home a few hours before kick-off.

But Hammers boss Moyes is confident the midfield partnership of Rice and Soucek, along with key centre-half Aguerd, will be available at the weekend.

However, Moyes revealed another couple of players have also come down with illness.

"They’ve been in today and done a little bit of training," said Moyes. "We are hoping all three will be available for the weekend.

"But we had one other player who was sent home this morning and another who said he didn’t feel so good.

"We’ve just got to hope we can contain it. It looks like it’s more like sickness and players are getting over it quite quickly."

Moyes will still be without Kurt Zouma, who has an ankle injury, and fellow defender Vladimir Coufal, who tweaked a hamstring at City.

The Scot, who turned 60 last week, is juggling the Premier League relegation battle with a Europa Conference League semi-final against AZ Alkmaar, the first leg of which takes place next Thursday.

"I’ve always said the Premier League is the priority," he said. "But when you are starting to talk about a semi-final in Europe you’re talking about another decision.

"If we play to our best we will give any team a very good match. If we do that then we will gain the extra points we need."

Sign up to read this article
Read news from 100’s of titles, curated specifically for you.
Already a member? Sign in here
Related Stories
Top stories on inkl right now
One subscription that gives you access to news from hundreds of sites
Already a member? Sign in here
Our Picks
Fourteen days free
Download the app
One app. One membership.
100+ trusted global sources.