Jarrod Bowen’s hopes of a first England call-up are in doubt, with West Ham not expecting the forward to be fit until after the upcoming international break.
The 25-year-old suffered a heel injury at Liverpool 10 days ago and is set to miss the second leg of West Ham’s Europa League last-16 tie against Sevilla on Thursday, as well as Sunday’s clash with Tottenham.
Bowen has been in fabulous form and was pushing for a call-up when Gareth Southgate names his squad on Thursday for games against Switzerland and Ivory Coast.
West Ham are in contact with England, but Bowen is a major doubt for the two friendlies at Wembley.
An initial scan on his heel showed no serious damage but further tests have failed to clearly diagnose the problem and he is set to miss a crunch week for West Ham.
The Hammers missed Bowen’s pace and clinical touch in their 1-0 first-leg defeat to Sevilla last week and are facing a mounting injury crisis ahead of Thursday’s return fixture.
Michail Antonio and Aaron Cresswell both limped off early in the second half of Sunday’s 2-1 win over Aston Villa and underwent scans on Monday.
Angelo Ogbonna is a long-term absentee at centre-back, while Vladimir Coufal is also missing until at least after the international break following a hernia operation.
Manager David Moyes, who has said he will keep a lid on any team news this week in order to keep Sevilla boss Julen Lopetegui guessing, was at least able to call upon Andriy Yarmolenko following his return from compassionate leave.
The Ukraine international scored the opening goal against Villa and could play a key role for West Ham in the coming games.
