West Ham United manager David Moyes has confirmed that Lucas Paqueta and Maxwel Cornet are both ruled out of Sunday's London derby against Tottenham Hotspur, while Gianluca Scamacca is also unlikely to feature.
Paqueta was withdrawn in just the eighth minute of the Hammers' 1-1 draw with Chelsea in the Premier League last weekend after sustaining a shoulder injury.
The 25-year-old, who joined West Ham for a club-record fee last summer, picked up a similar injury earlier this season and subsequently missed six matches across all competitions before recovering in time to represent Brazil at the World Cup.
Paqueta will now join Scamacca and Cornet on the sidelines, with the latter still recovering from a troublesome calf problem that has kept him out since the beginning of October.
Moyes was able to provide a positive update on Scamacca, though, as the striker has returned to team training this week following a month out with a knee injury, but Sunday's clash with Tottenham will likely come too soon for the Italian.
The Hammers boss was also able to offer an encouraging update on the fitness of Nayef Aguerd and has suggested that the defender could be involved against Spurs after picking up a knock against Chelsea last weekend.
Speaking at a press conference on Friday, Moyes said: "Lucas Paqueta is not going to be available for the game. Nayef has got a chance but we're not sure yet if he is going to make it or not.
"It's also great that Gianluca is back, but he is nowhere near ready to play, or nowhere near ready to be selected.
"I might try to involve him but I have to say that it would be minimum minutes because he's just back with us."
On Cornet, Moyes added: "We're looking forward to getting Maxwel back. It seems like it's been a long time that we've not had him.
"We're due him back in next Monday but whether that means training, or building him back up. We're certainly going to need time to build him back up, that's for sure."
Moyes is also hopeful that January signing Danny Ings can get regular first-team minutes under his belt having recently recovered from a knee issue.
"We hope Danny is going to be a regular starter," said the Scotsman. "That's the plan. We brought him here to get us some goals but we just need to make sure we bring him back.
"He's had a knee injury so we're just looking after him as best as we can as well. We're looking forward to getting him in and him giving us those goals.
Meanwhile, there was no mention of Kurt Zouma at the press conference, but the centre-back is seemingly unlikely to feature against Spurs after missing the last three games with a knee problem.
As for Alphonse Areola, he has not been involved in the last two matchday squads due to a hamstring injury, but the goalkeeper was spotted training with the first team this week and could be available on Sunday.
West Ham, who have put together a four-game unbeaten run in all competitions, currently sit 16th in the Premier League table, just two points above the relegation zone. body check tags ::
