David Moyes has confirmed that Michail Antonio will undergo season-ending surgery with the intention of ending his long-term hamstring problems.
The West Ham United winger initially suffered an injury in the vital home victory over Swansea City in April 2017 but, after recovering in time for the second game of the current Premier League season, Antonio has missed a further nine matches with rib and calf issues.
Last Saturday, he pulled up after attempting a long-range shot and was forced off, clearly distraught, and the manager as now revealed that his campaign is over.
“Michail is out for the season. He’s going to have an operation sometime this week on his hamstring, so the biggest thing now is to get him ready for the start of next season and get him sorted if we can.
“He’s a big miss for us because he’s someone that we need. He’s got great strength and pace and we’ll miss him between now and the end of the season.
“They tell me last season he had very few injuries, then he picked up an injury toward the end of last season on his hamstring and he’s never really recovered from that. In the short time I’ve been here, he’s had a few pretty bad injuries.
“Look, it is what it is and we have to get on with it. He’s a miss for us, and we just have to hope that we can get him back for the start of next year.”
On a more positive note, Moyes confirmed Manuel Lanzini is back on the training pitch after suffering a knee injury while on international duty with Argentina and there is a chance he could be in the matchday squad for Sunday’s Premier League fixture at Chelsea.
“Manu is back running, but he was running last week. He’s got a medial ligament injury which affects his turning and twisting. He’s able to run in straight lines at the moment.
“I’m hoping for an update on Saturday to see how he is, so I wouldn’t completely rule him out, but at the moment I’d say he’s a doubt.”
Meanwhile, Chicharito has recovered from the illness which ruled him out of last Saturday’s win over Southampton, while James Collins has overcome his own hamstring injury and is set to return to full training next week and should be available to face Stoke City on Monday 16 April.
Andy Carroll (foot), Sam Byram (ankle), Winston Reid and Pedro Obiang (both knee) are unavailable for Sunday’s trip to Stamford Bridge.