Lyon boss Peter Bosz has denied suffering a major striker blow after travelling to London to face West Ham United.
The massive Europa League quarter-final first leg against Lyon at the London Stadium takes place tonight.
West Ham warmed up for the match with a 2-1 win over Everton. And across the Channel at the weekend, Lyon edged a five-goal thriller 3-2 at home against Angers which you can read all about here.
Hammers boss David Moyes has been speaking ahead of the game about the importance of West Ham’s fans and his players appreciating that the last eight match is very much over two legs.
There is mixed news for West Ham ahead of the first leg.
Jarrod Bowen and Ben Johnson will both be available to face the Ligue 1 side. But Manuel Lanzini – who was crucial to the win over Sevilla – is suspended.
Lyon have problems of their own with influential midfielder Maxence Caqueret out injured.
And yesterday reports claimed West Ham had been boosted – and Lyon rocked – on the eve of the game by the news that striker Karl Toko Ekambi had been ruled out with Covid.
RMC Sport claimed that alleged former Moyes target Ekambi will miss out against the Hammers because he still hasn’t recovered from Covid-19.
It was also suggested that he hadn’t even travelled to London (RMC Sport).
The news was a big boost for Moyes given how influential the 29-year-old attacker has been for them this season.
The 46-capped Cameroon international has bagged 13 goals and five assists in 31 games for Lyon so far this term, including six in eight Europa League matches (Transfermarkt).
But when quizzed on the matter in his pre-match press conference, Lyon boss Bosz denied suffering the major striker blow after travelling to London to face West Ham.
“Bosz was also queried by the French journalists present on his team news, confirming that joint-top scorer Karl Toko Ekambi – who has six goals in eight Europa League games so far this season, but who missed the 3-2 win over SCO Angers on Sunday – will return to his matchday squad following illness,” West Ham’s official website reports.
“Maxence Caqueret, however, will not be available, having picked up a suspected knee injury in training last week, with Bosz suggesting Lyon will have to shuffle their pack accordingly.”
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