West Ham United manager David Moyes has offered an update on the fitness of his squad ahead of Thursday night's UEFA Europa League quarter-final first leg clash away at Bayer Leverkusen.
The Hammers return to continental competition having defeated Leverkusen's German counterparts SC Freiburg 5-1 on aggregate in the round of 16, and will be confident of toppling the Bundesliga leaders after beating Wolverhampton Wanderers on their travels at the weekend in the Premier League.
But they will be without top scorer Jarrod Bowen for the tie at the BayArena, with the 27-year-old having failed to fully recover from a heavy challenge that forced him off early in the second half against Wolves.
Moyes admitted that Bowen - who has netted 19 times in 40 appearances in all competitions this term - will be a big miss to his team, but outlined his confidence in all of his attacking options during his pre-match press conference on Wednesday evening.
The manager said: "Jarrod's not with us. He's got an injury and he's not available to play tomorrow night. We're not sure about when he might return at the moment.
"We think [when he got the knee in his back] he's twisted and he's probably damaged a bit of something, a bit like a fast bowler gets in cricket. It's about the rotation, which is where we think the damage has come from.
"Jarrod will always be a miss because he's a boy who's played a big part in memorable games for us, especially in the UEFA Europa Conference League final last year.
"But, these things happen in football, and we have players ready to come in to try and get the job done for us."
Elsewhere, goalkeeper Alphonse Areola remains on the sidelines with the groin injury that forced him off at half-time against Newcastle United late last month, and kept him out of the subsequent two Premier League fixtures.
Kalvin Phillips also did not travel to Germany after picking up a hamstring issue in training, joining his midfield colleague Edson Álvarez on the absentees list, with the Mexican out through suspension.
Moyes added: "Alphonse Areola isn't here with us for this one.
"Kalvin Phillips kicked the back of someone's leg in training, and we think he's just tweaked a bit of a lower hamstring, at the back of his knee. I don't think it'll be long-term, but it only happened yesterday so I'm not too sure at the moment.
"Edson's out as well, and we have to find a way to cover that area of the pitch. He does a good job for us in different ways, but we have to play without him."
