West Ham United assistant manager Alan Irvine faced the media on Friday afternoon for the pre-match press conference ahead of Sunday's trip to Leicester City.
As manager David Moyes comes to the end of his self-isolation period following a positive Covid-19 test, Irvine sat in for the boss, and he revealed that Moyes might have to take charge of the King Power Stadium test from home once again.
He says that will not affect how the Hammers prepare for and approach the game against the division's early front-runners, although he is looking forward to welcoming the manager back as soon as safely possible.
In the meantime, he also welcomed new signing Vladimír Coufal and looked ahead to the challenge posed by the Foxes.
We welcome Vladimír...
He’s a very experienced player for a start. Everyone has known that we have been short in terms of depth defensively so it is fantastic to get another defender in, someone who is highly experienced at club and international level.
He has a lot of caps, played a lot in the Champions League and Europa League so he is someone we feel adds to the defensive unit that we have.
Look, every manager will want to find more players. I don’t know too many managers in any transfer window that have been truly satisfied with the squad that they have, everyone is trying to improve and we will continue to look at the players in question up until the window closes.
Leicester will provide a real test...
It is a huge test. Obviously Leicester have started the season extremely well and have a lot of very talented players. They have a lot of pace in their team and it will be a real test going there.
It's exactly the same as Wolves was though, and Arsenal the week before. Everybody saw the fixtures when they came out and went 'oh, they look difficult', but then any fixture is in the Premier League.
If we have the same level of performance as we had in the last two Premier League games then we will be competitive.
It will be an emotional day as Leicester remember Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha...
Of course. It was clear what everybody at Leicester thought of him, the important part that he played and the kind of person he seemed to be. I never had the pleasure of meeting him but certainly, you just gauge the effect it had on so many people.
I am sure it’ll be emotional but also, as professionals, they will have to put that to one side. I am quite sure that it will not have an adverse effect on their performance.
We're looking forward to welcoming David Moyes back as soon as we can...
The manager is one of the key people at any club and the rest of us can try to relay his messages when he’s not around but the only way to get them nailed down, exactly how he wants is to deliver them himself.
Getting him back as quickly as possible is important but it has to be right for him and everybody else at the club. These are very difficult times.
It is vitally important that we are safe and follow the protocols that are in place. We need to think about the safety of everybody else at the football club