West Ham United have been handed a boost after it emerged one of Leeds United’s top stars looks set to add to a growing injury, illness and suspension crisis ahead of the visit of the Hammers.
West Ham head to face Leeds at Elland Road on Saturday looking to get back to winning ways in the Premier League.
After a fast start with a 4-2 win over Newcastle and 4-1 win over Leicester, the Hammers have failed to win in their last three, drawing with Crystal Palace and Southampton and harshly losing to Man United last time out.
West Ham boost as Leeds face shocking early season injury, illness and suspension crisis
Meanwhile Leeds are still searching for their first league win of the campaign but beat Fulham on penalties in the Carabao Cup after a 0-0 draw on Tuesday night.
West Ham have the small matter of a trip to Manchester United in the same competition on Wednesday evening.
But David Moyes is set to make a raft of changes to keep his main men fit for the Leeds match.
And West Ham look set to come up against a Marcelo Bielsa side missing a host of key players including star attacker Raphinha.
Leeds star Raphinha a doubt for West Ham with hip injury
The dangerous Brazilian scored last time out in a 1-1 draw with Newcastle. But he was withdrawn on 67 minutes and Bielsa has since confirmed he is struggling with a hip injury.
Raphinha was a bright spark against West Ham last season. So if he does miss the game it will be music to the ears of Vladimir Coufal and Aaron Cresswell.
It would be a huge blow to Leeds who are already missing a number of players through injury and suspension.
According to Leeds Live, no less than SEVEN Leeds players are big doubts to face West Ham.
That includes four of Leeds’s top players in Raphinha, Patrick Bamford, Luke Ayling and Jack Harrison.
Diego Llorente, Robin Koch, Pascal Struijk and Harrison will almost definitely miss the match.
Llorente and Koch are injured with no return dates set while Struijk is suspended after his red card against Liverpool for the tackle which injured Harvey Elliott.
Harrison has confirmed he missed the Newcastle game last Friday having contracted Covid.
There is a minimum 10-day isolation period in place in that scenario which means he will likely be unavailable to face West Ham.
Both Bamford and Ayling missed Leeds’s match at Fulham. And Bielsa will be desperately hoping he can get the duo back on the pitch to face the Hammers.
At the time of writing West Ham have a fully fit squad to choose from with Moyes expected to make around nine or 10 changes at Man United in order to keep it that way for the trip to Leeds.
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