West Ham face defensive crisis as boss David Moyes lifts lid on Kurt Zouma and Thilo Kehrer doubts after double blow

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West Ham face a potential defensive crisis as boss David Moyes lifts the lid on Kurt Zouma and Thilo Kehrer doubts after a double blow.

The Hammers have just started to find some form and rhythm after a dismal start to the season, stringing together four wins on the bounce.

The latest, a 2-1 victory over Anderlecht in the Europa Conference League, sealed West Ham’s place in the knockouts for the new year.

But it came at a cost.

Angelo Ogbonna was forced off with what looked like a knee injury in the first half – but Moyes later said he thought it could be his hamstring.

Then his replacement and West Ham’s star defender, Craig Dawson, had to be double substituted when he too was injured in a clash with Flynn Downes.

Now West Ham face defensive crisis as boss Moyes lifts the lid on Zouma and Kehrer doubts after the double blow.

Skipper Declan Rice ended up coming on at centre-back for West Ham.

And speaking on BT Sport after the win over the Belgians, Moyes revealed that he has issues with Zouma and Kehrer ahead of the weekend’s game at Southampton.

Zouma – like Michail Antonio – is suffering with a bug while Kehrer has a knock.

“We’re a little bit short,” Moyes told Becky Ives on BT Sport.

“You know Kurt is having a little bit of a cold as well and Thilo having a bit of a knock it meant that we were a little bit short so we put Declan to the back.

“We just think he’s (Ogbonna) had a tightening of his hamstring. He felt it a week ago when we were doing a bit of training. Hopefully it’s not too bad, he recovered very quickly from the one he felt a few days ago and again he’s somebody who’s returning from a serious injury, at 34 years old it’s not that easy to do. So we’re pleased with how he’s done but disappointed for him tonight.

“Daws had a bit of a dead leg anyway and I think he got another one right on it as well. So I’m hoping that he’s fine. We took him off as a precaution more than anything else.”

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