West Ham striker Lucas Perez has picked up an injury and will not be available to face Wolves in the Premier League on Tuesday evening.
The Spaniard came on at half-time and scored for the Hammers in their embarrassing 4-2 loss to AFC Wimbledon on Saturday which saw them crash out of the FA Cup at the fourth-round stage.
Manager Manuel Pellegrini has however revealed that the 30-year-old has sustained a minor injury which has put him out of contention to play Wolves.
Speaking in the pre-match press conference, as quoted by football.london, he said: “Lucas Perez had a kick against Wimbledon and he will not play tomorrow.
“He has a kick in his ankle, I hope that next week he will be OK.”
OPINION
This will come as a blow to both West Ham and Perez, who will have been hoping for the chance to build on his goalscoring display against Wimbledon. The Spaniard has come under fire for his poor form so far this season, but his record is actually not that bad, with five goals coming in 14 appearances. The fact that most of those appearances came off the bench shows that the 30-year-old is actually a decent goalscorer, but is yet to be given a real chance to show that at the London Stadium. In truth it was actually unlikely that he would have started tomorrow against Wolves, but he would have likely had a place on the bench. There have also been rumours surrounding his future as the January window ticks towards a close, with Perez reportedly a target for a couple of La Liga clubs. It will be interesting to see if anything comes of that in the coming days.
