David Moyes has confirmed the reason for Alphonse Areola’s absence from the West Ham squad and Thilo Kehrer is injured at Newcastle.
Many people believe Areola should be West Ham’s number one goalkeeper ahead of Lukasz Fabianski.
But he wasn’t even on the bench for the trip to Newcastle on Saturday evening.
Two young West Ham academy goalkeepers – Krisztián Hegyi and Joseph Anang – were named on the bench instead.
That sparked the usual rumours and misinformation online.
But that was quickly put to bed by the manager.
Moyes confirmed the reason for Areola’s absence from the West Ham squad at Newcastle.
Speaking to Sky Sports before the game, Moyes confirmed Areola has picked up a hamstring injury in training.
It is no clear how long the Frenchman will be out for. But it is a massive worry given West Ham have just allowed third choice ‘keeper Darren Randolph to join relegation rivals Bournemouth.
Areola played in the 2-0 FA Cup win over Derby on Monday night and Moyes said the issue was picked up in training ahead of the Newcastle clash.
We can only hope it’s not too serious and West Ham can get him back in action as soon as possible.
It is the latest in a long line of injury blows at West Ham with Gianluca Scamacca, Kurt Zouma and Maxwel Cornet also out.
German defender Keher was also withdrawn at half-time of the Newcastle match with an unspecified injury.
He was replaced by Ben Johnson.
And West Ham defender Vladimir Coufal picked up a shoulder concern during the game.
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