Gianluca Scamacca has had his final knee injection ahead of his West Ham return but there is uncertainty over when he will be available for selection.
West Ham are gearing up for a huge match at Newcastle on Saturday night as the fight for survival continues.
The Hammers have seen some green shoots of recovery in recent weeks with back-to-back 2-0 wins over Everton and Derby.
But it is difficult to gauge West Ham’s improvement given Everton are arguably the worst team in the top flight and Derby were League One opposition in the FA Cup.
You can only beat what’s in front of you, though, and West Ham must hope winning becomes a habit again as they go in search of a positive result at St James’ Park.
There are green shoots of recovery for West Ham’s £35m summer striker signing Scamacca ahead of the game too.
The Italian has been out with a knee injury since scoring in the 2-2 draw at Leeds last month.
90min had claimed there were ‘ongoing concerns’ over the Scamacca injury with extent of the problem being kept under wraps by West Ham.
But, as reported by Hammers News last week, Scamacca took to social media to deny those claims saying “soon back”.
Scamacca has been receiving a course of treatment for his knee injury that includes platelet-rich plasma (PRP) injections.
They are a form of regenerative medicine which uses the player’s own blood platelets to accelerate the healing process.
The striker is having a course of three injections – each a week apart.
Now ‘fine’ Scamacca has had his final knee injection ahead of a West Ham return but there uncertainty over when he will be available.
David Moyes revealed the last of the three injections for the Hammers star was yesterday (Wednesday).
And the Scot gave an encouraging update on the striker earlier this week, describing him as ‘fine’ (whufc.com).
“Up front, we are hoping Gianluca is not too far away as well,” Moyes said earlier this week.
“Gianluca is fine.
“He’s had his second PRP injection and is due to take his third one to come next Wednesday (February 1st). My feeling is he’s doing OK.”
Quite when that means Scamacca will be available remains unclear and Moyes will undoubtedly be asked the question when he faces the press this week ahead of West Ham’s trip to Newcastle.
The game against the Magpies is likely to come too soon, though, one would have thought.
So – as originally forecast – it is hoped he will be back in the squad for the clash with Chelsea next Saturday.
Maxwel Cornet also returned to training this week, but he too is expected to need at least two weeks before being available for selection.
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