Slaven Bilic’s defensive worries have gone from bad to worse after vice captain Winston Reid has been ruled of Saturday’s clash against Newcastle United, reports the Evening Standard.
Reid was stretchered off during the warm-up during the 3-2 loss to Southampton on Saturday, and while the problem is not being treated as serious, the Hammers will have to travel to St James’ Park without their first choice centre half.
The New Zealand international had only recently recovered from injury having been on the sidelines since the end of last season. He is also likely to miss the All Whites two World Cup qualifiers against the Solomon Islands at the start of September, but is expected to be back after the international break in time for West Ham’s first home game of the season against Huddersfield Town on September 11th.
Despite the injury and a lack of options at centre half however, manager Slaven Bilic insists he is not looking to bring in defensive reinforcements before the end of August when the transfer window closes.
“We have enough centre-backs in our team if they stay fit,” he said. “You can’t have eight players in one situation. We have one position we want to fill unless someone else goes and we have to fill in.”
