West Ham United host Everton on Saturday afternoon, and they could give a debut to a recent signing, but will be without three key men for the contest.
The match pits Hammers boss David Moyes against one of his former clubs, which will add to the intrigue and attention on the match, which is pretty big for the home side anyway as they look to come away from the relegation zone.
West Ham will be looking to bounce back from their narrow defeat at Sheffield United last week, and build on the fine win they picked up over Bournemouth, in the only home match since their new manager returned to the London Stadium.
Moyes has already been active in the transfer market this month, bringing Darren Randolph back to the club, and the former Middlesbrough stopper could be handed a second debut between the sticks, as the Hammers have to do without regular goaltender Lukasz Fabianski due to injury.
The West Ham boss gave his thoughts on that possibility, and confirmed the status of Michail Antonio, Felipe Anderson and Arthur Masuaku, when he addressed the media ahead of the game.
“We’d ideally have liked to have waited a week longer, but Lukasz’s injury has meant we’ve brought that forward,” the Hammers official website quotes him as saying.
“We’re happy with him so far and we’re happy to take the risk with it. He’s trained fine today and we’re glad to have him on board.
“It’s not a great risk because he’s been training for a while now. He’s been doing all the work he’s had to do and hopefully he’ll be ready for the weekend. I’ve got the choice between three goalkeepers at the moment and he’s certainly in that.”
“At the moment, Michail has not trained with us. He joined a little bit this morning. I’m hoping we can get him back, but I couldn’t be sure that it will be this weekend.
“We’ve got an injury to Felipe Anderson as well which might mean that he might make it or he might not, but we’ve got a doubt at the moment. He got a bad fall with ten minutes to go in the game against Sheffield United, so we’re assessing that at the moment. It’s his ribs because he fell heavily from that tackle. We’re getting him checked.
“Also, Arthur has got a little bit of fluid in his knee, which we’ve drained, and we’re seeing how that is as well.”