Jarrod Bowen, Kalvin Phillips and Alphonse Areola are out of West Ham’s trip to Bayer Leverkusen through injury, manager David Moyes has said before the Uefa Europa League quarter-final first leg.
Forward Bowen is the Hammers’ top scorer this season with 19 goals in all competitions but has not travelled because of a twisted knee.
“There’s some sort of damage,” said Moyes. “We can’t give any dates of when he might be back, unfortunately.
“He’s an England international and we know how important he is to our team, so he’ll be a miss, for sure. But we have good players who can come in, so we’ll stay positive.
“Kalvin Phillips has picked up a problem and will be missing. It looks like he’s tweaked his hamstring a bit but we don’t think it’s a long-term problem.”
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Manchester City loanee Phillips has struggled to establish himself as a starting choice alongside the likes of goalkeeper Areola, who remains troubled by a thigh injury which has kept the Frenchman out of West Ham’s last two Premier League matches.
A suspension for Edson Alvarez also means the tough-tackling Mexico international will not be involved when the visitors attempt to become the first side this season to beat the runaway Bundesliga leaders.
2⃣4⃣ hours until kick-off 👀 pic.twitter.com/m8qoivljeE
— West Ham United (@WestHam) April 10, 2024
“He will be a miss because he’s an important player but we’ll have to manage – and we will,” said Moyes.
“We have character, and it’s probably a bit about my character as well. We’ll need leadership, composure and tactical understanding against a team who are unbeaten in 41, so we need to try to handle that.”
Leverkusen v West Ham ‘difficult’
Europa Conference League holders West Ham lost the away leg 1-0 in their round of 16 tie with Freiburg but recovered emphatically by winning the return encounter 5-0.
“We’ve been on a really good run over the last few years so we’re not coming here without expectancy,” said Moyes. “We’ve done very well in Europe over the last three years.
“We’re looking forward to the game. It’ll be difficult but there are two legs and we’re hopeful.”
