West Ham United quartet Lukasz Fabianski, Winston Reid, Ryan Fredericks and Mark Noble are all set for injury assessments, according to Football Insider.
The outlet claims that right back Fredericks and captain Noble both failed fitness tests ahead of Wednesday’s victory over Bundesliga side Hertha Berlin, with groin and dead leg issues respectively.
Goalkeeper Fabianksi then suffered a groin problem in the warm-up, while Reid was rested for the game as manager Manuel Pellegrini continues to monitor his fitness closely after more than a year on the sidelines.
The quartet will all undergo injury and fitness assessments in the coming days before a decision is made on whether they feature against Athletic Bilbao on Saturday or not.
OPINION
The Bilbao game is very much Pellegrini’s last chance to get a good look at his players in match action before the team’s opening Premier League game of the season against Manchester City the following weekend. However, he is now struck with a dilemma about whether to risk these four players against the Spanish side or not. Reid, you would think, is likely to feature against Bilbao having merely been rested against Hertha Berlin. However, the other three were all injured for the game on Wednesday night, and so it’s going to be a legitimate risk whether they play on Saturday or not. Fabianski, Noble and Fredericks would all be in line to start against City, you’d think, and so Pellegrini now has quite the juggling act over the next few days. A dead leg for Noble shouldn’t be too much of an issue. However, groin problems for Fabianski and Fredericks is more of a concern. We’ll just have to cross our fingers that they recover in time for the new season.
