Julen Lopetegui has confirmed that forward Niclas Füllkrug will not be available for selection for our eighth Premier League game of the season against Tottenham Hotspur on Saturday.
West Ham United lock horns with one of our nearest neighbours at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, with the action getting under way at 12.30pm GMT for a fixture that will be broadcast live in the UK by TNT Sports.
The German centre-forward has not taken to the pitch since he suffered an injury in his calf and Achilles area while featuring for Germany on international duty last month and has missed the Hammers’ last five games in all competitions.
A number of our players who were involved in international duty returned to Rush Green throughout this week, and with a few of our furthest travelled players yet to arrive back in east London, the Club will assess their fitness over the next 24 hours ahead of the trip to Tottenham.
The Irons are looking to continue where we left off prior to the international break and take the momentum built from the resounding 4-1 win over Ipswich Town, where we registered a first home three-point haul of the 2024/25 campaign.
Speaking in his pre-match press conference, Head Coach Lopetegui said: “[Niclas] Füllkrug is out, and he is continuing to recover from his injury, but the rest I hope will be able to feature. I am going to meet with them this afternoon, but we don’t have bad news about them.
“The problem is that Niclas had one minor injury at the start, but there’s been a bit of a complication with this injury, and we are waiting for him to recover. It’s true that we thought he would be out for two weeks maximum, but it’s been a month and a half. Hopefully he will be ready for the next matches, but right now he is out.
“It is true that we had a lot of players in different countries [on international duty], and right now not all of the players have returned. I am going to see the last of the players today and tomorrow, so until the last moment we are not going to be together.
“It is always difficult to prepare for the matches [after a break], but it happens to a lot of teams and not only us. We have to manage this and be ready for the next match against Tottenham.”
