West Ham suffer double injury blow before Aston Villa with Julen Lopetegui 'not optimistic'
Julen Lopetegui admits he's 'not optimistic' about West Ham's latest injury misfortune ahead of their trip to Aston Villa after defender Jean-Clair Todibo was forced off in the 4-1 defeat at Manchester City on Saturday. Defender Todibo, who is on loan from Ligue 1 side Nice, was briefly linked with Villa in the summer but headed to London in August.
The Frenchman withdrew before the hour mark on Saturday. Although the nature of the injury is still not clear, it's enough clearly to leave Lopetegui concerned about the player's availability. West Ham head to Villa Park on Friday night (8pm kick off) for an FA Cup third round tie before revisiting in the Premier League later this month.
“We don’t know exactly [the nature of his injury],” Lopetegui revealed. “We have to assess him tomorrow, but I am not very optimistic with him."
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The Irons had a further setback when preparing for Saturday's game after losing Emerson, leaving Lopetegui to field two right-backs in his back four: “We suffered an injury Friday [with Emerson] too in the last training session, that’s why he was not here.”
West Ham have recently lost captain Jarrod Bowen to a broken foot, which will keep him sidelined for at least the next two months which means he certainly won't be heading to Villa Park for league or cup. Michail Antonio remains sidelined for the foreseeable future but is out of hospital after being involved in a car accident. The Hammers are also without first choice goalkeeper Lukasz Fabianski currently.
