West Ham United manager David Moyes confirmed that Aaron Cresswell is a doubt for Wednesday’s Premier League fixture at home to Brighton & Hove Albion, but is hopeful the defender might recover.
The Hammers are looking to recapture their early-season form after back-to-back narrow defeats on the road against Wolverhampton Wanderers and Manchester City – the first such occurrence since April.
Cresswell was forced to leave the field of play after an hour’s action at the Etihad, having made a goal-saving intervention on the line to deny City forward Gabriel Jesus, clattering into the post in the process.
The blow to Cresswell’s back saw him substituted for Vladimír Coufal, but Moyes – speaking at his pre-match press conference – was hopeful that the left-back could return in time for Wednesday’s match at London Stadium.
The manager confirmed: “Obviously, we’ve got a doubt about Aaron Cresswell. He’s been out today so we’re hopeful that he’s not too bad, so we’ll see how he is.”
Wednesday’s match is West Ham’s first of nine in the month of December, with seven fixtures to be fulfilled in the Premier League alone, alongside further commitments in the UEFA Europa League and Carabao Cup.
West Ham are, however, unbeaten in their last seven Premier League matches in midweek, winning four and drawing three of those contests – a record Moyes hopes to further against Brighton this week.
The manager noted: “Let’s hope it continues, but I think with the level of the Premier League, it’s so tough to win games.
“Everybody’s in a batch of more fixtures at the moment, so the results could be strange, but I think the Premier League’s so tough at the moment, it’s not easy to call the winners of any game.”