West Ham break silence on Kurt Zouma’s injury and hint defender could be out for a while

West Ham United have flown to France for the second leg of their Europa League encounter against Lyon without their key defender Kurt Zouma who has stayed back in London to have further assessment on his knee.

The defender suffered a knee injury in the defeat to Brentford over the weekend and even though the club was initially hopeful that not alot of damage had been done, it’s now clear Zouma would be set for some time on the treatment table.

The news is a massive blow to the Irons who are hoping to get past Lyon having held the French side to a 1-1 draw in the first leg at the London Stadium despite playing the entire second half with 10-men

It’s been a tough week for David Moyes and his team who had Aaron Cresswell sent off half way through the first leg against Lyon and then just didn’t have enough energy to get past Brentford who had a whole week to prepare for their Premier League encounter over the weekend.

The Hammers lost Angelo Ogbonna earlier in the season to a similar knee injury and even though Craig Dawson has proven to be a more than capable replacement and was quite outstanding in the game against Lyon last week, the loss of Zouma would be quite irreplaceable at this stage of the season for various reason, including his experience and form.

West manager David Moyes now has a big decision to make which could include shifting someone like Declan Rice back into defence or give Issa Diop, who hasn’t looked convincing a chance to see out the rest of the season.

The club who are clearly devastated with the news confirmed the defender had suffered a knee injury and did not travel with the rest of the squad to France.

A club statement read: “Kurt Zouma will miss Thursday’s UEFA Europa League quarter-final second leg tie against Olympique Lyonnais.

“The France international defender is to remain in London for further tests and examination on the ankle injury he suffered during Sunday’s Premier League match at Brentford.

“Everyone at West Ham would like to wish Kurt a speedy recovery.”

The Hammers are still in the race for a finish in the top four of the Premier League but all their attention will be on tomorrow’s crunch encounter against Lyon, as they try to make it to the last four of the the Europa League and possibly set up a historic game against Barcelona or Eintracht Frankfurt.