West Ham dealt new injury concern as David Moyes explains Lucas Paqueta sub

West Ham manager David Moyes admitted that Lucas Paqueta was taken off against SC Freiburg as he felt the beginning of an injury strain in the first half.

The Brazilian stormed off the pitch as he was replaced by James Ward-Prowse, throwing his strapping on the ground as he sat on the bench before heading down the tunnel. The 26-year-old had opened the scoring after nine minutes and led the Hammers performance early on.

Speaking after the game, Moyes said: "He had an injury in the first half and I was going to take him off at half time. He wanted to stay on at half time but I just felt as if we got the goal and I didn't see the point of risking him with a game on Sunday.

"I've got to make sure his injury wasn't going to get any worse. It's good, I like it when they don't like coming off. It shows you they care a wee bit!"

West Ham have had to make do without their star man at times this season due to injury issues. Paqueta missed six Premier League matches in a row between January and February as he nursed a calf injury.

Moyes also heaped praise on his side, in particular star man Mohammed Kudus, who bagged an impressive second half brace as the side booked a place in the Europa League quarter-finals.

He said: "Hugely pleased with the goals and the level of the performance. We were really unhappy from the first game. We thought we shouldn't have come out with the result we had, we had to live with that and try and put it right and thankfully tonight we did.

"I remember dribbling wingers who used to run and take people on with snaky hips and find a way through. It was a bit of that [Kudus' performance] tonight. It was a brilliant individual goal."