West Ham manager Manuel Pellegrini has confirmed that only Winston Reid will be missing for the club’s clash against Watford this weekend.
The Hammers were forced to play without Sebastien Haller or Felipe Anderson against Brighton after both picking up injury problems on the opening weekend of the season.
Mark Noble also missed the 1-1 draw against the Seagulls, with Pellegrini making five changes to the starting XI that were thrashed by Manchester City at the London Stadium.
However, Pellegrini has revealed the trio will be available for the club’s visit to Vicarage Road this weekend, with centre-back powerhouse Reid the only missing man.
Asked at his press conference about injured players, Pellegrini was quoted by Football.London as saying: “Just Winston Reid. All the other players are fit.”
Opinion
This will be music to the ears of the east London faithful, who will be hoping they can get their first win of the season against the Hornets. Yes, Javier Hernandez might have netted the Hammers’ only goal against Brighton but will he really be kept in the side when big-money signing Haller is ready to return? Possibly not. The same applies to the likes of Pablo Fornals and Robert Snodgrass, who will be hoping that Pellegrini saw enough from them last weekend to keep him from swinging the axe for Felipe Anderson’s return. As for Reid missing out, he will not be seen as too much of a loss for the Hammers, having not played competitively for over a season, but it seems he cannot escape the vicious cycle of his injury and fitness problems. Even when he does return to fitness, Issa Diop, Angelo Ogbonna and Fabian Balbuena could keep him out of the side.
