Julen Lopetegui was keeping his cards close to his chest when asked for team news ahead of West Ham United’s Boxing Day Premier League trip to Southampton.
The Head Coach revealed that two players have minor injury issues that they could yet overcome ahead of the visit to St Mary’s Stadium, but did not name them, leaving the media and new Saints manager Ivan Jurić guessing.
“We have a little problem with two players, one has an issue in the knee, so let's see in the next day if they are going to be ready or not for Southampton,” he said. “If they are ready, that’s better, but if not, we have to take advantage of all our players.”
Lopetegui was next asked if Germany centre-forward Niclas Füllkrug, who has recently returned from three months out with an Achilles injury, needs a run of matches in the starting XI to find his best form, particularly with Michail Antonio ruled out indefinitely following his car accident.
Again the Spaniard was not giving much away. Instead, he restated his mantra that every player in his squad can be a ‘main actor’ and play their own part in helping the Hammers to victory.
“I think we lost a very important player for us for a lot of time, who is Michail Antonio, and it’s true we didn’t have Füllkrug in his best way, and Danny Ings is doing well, so we can use Jarrod Bowen too, so we have different options [up front],” he observed.
“We have to try to take advantage of the best options that we understand in each match, in each moment, understanding that all of them have to be in the best way to help us a lot. Sometimes the timings didn’t help us as Füllkrug was out for three-a-half-months and now he is back and ready to help us in the second half of the season.
“There is not only one rule in football. Sometimes he [Füllkrug] can start in the line-up for us and sometimes he can start on the bench. The more important thing is that all of the players need to be ready now to play a lot of matches in a row.
“We have to be ready. All of the squad is going to be important and all of them have to be ready to be main actors. I repeat it a lot, but it’s true. The players in the line-up are no more or less important than those who are on the bench because they are going to bring us the key moments in the matches, so we have to take advantage of all of them and all of them have to be ready.”
Lopetegui will once again be able to call upon midfielder Carlos Soler in Southampton, following his one-match suspension, but Lucas Paquetá is unavailable for selection after he picked up his fifth yellow card of the season against Brighton & Hove Albion last time out.
