French renaissance as West Ham star Alphonse Areola is pictured back training in major boost for David Moyes.
‘Bare bones’ were the dreaded words of a seriously concerned Moyes about West Ham’s £173.5m injury crisis following the 1-1 draw with Chelsea at the weekend.
West Ham secured what may yet prove to be a vital point in their battle for survival.
But the game came at a huge cost for West Ham as key stars Lucas Paqueta and Nayef Aguerd added to the queue for the treatment room.
It meant West Ham had Kurt Zouma (£30m), Gianluca Scamacca (£35m), Maxwel Cornet (£17.5m), Paqueta (£51m), Aguerd (£30m) and Areola (£10m) all sidelined ahead of another huge derby against bitter rivals Spurs.
But there has been a French renaissance as West Ham star Areola is pictured back training in a major boost for Moyes.
West Ham’s media team has today posted a picture gallery on the club’s official website showing the squad training at the London Stadium.
And picture number 19 brings a welcome boost for the Hammers as Areola is pictured all smiles in his training gear as he makes his comeback from a hamstring injury.
Areola may not be a starter with Lukasz Fabianski Moyes number one.
But having him back is vital for the run-in. West Ham have been forced to name two young, inexperienced goalkeepers on the bench for recent matches. It is far from ideal and would not be fair on them if they were to be thrust into the thick of a relegation battle should anything happen to Fabianski.
With huge FA Cup and Europa Conference League matches on the horizon soon too, Areola will certainly be needed.
The French goalkeeper will hopefully be joined back in training by striker Scamacca ahead of Spurs too.
Scamacca was pictured training at Rush Green early last week. But he reportedly went back to Italy for checks on his knee following a series of injections.
That wold be another vital boost although West Ham were giving nothing away if the Italian is back with the team this week because he was not included in any of the training pictures.
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