Graham Potter is hoping Crysencio Summerville will recover from a hamstring injury in time for West Ham United’s Premier League derby with Crystal Palace on Saturday afternoon.
The Hammers welcome the Eagles to London Stadium eight days after Summerville suffered the problem in the first half of an Emirates FA Cup third-round defeat at Aston Villa.
The Dutch winger has been receiving treatment at Rush Green training ground this week in a bid to be fit to face Oliver Glasner’s side this weekend, and Head Coach Potter revealed in his pre-match press conference that the 23-year-old will be given every possible opportunity to prove his fitness ahead of the 3pm kick-off.
“We're still waiting a little bit on Cree,” Potter confirmed. “We’ll probably have to make a late decision. The game might come too soon, but we'll see. There is still a bit of time.”
Potter also revealed that he does not expect goalkeeper Alphonse Areola, defender Jean-Clair Todibo nor captain and forward Jarrod Bowen to be available for Saturday’s game, while Michail Antonio is continuing to recover from a serious car accident in December.
“Everybody else is pretty much as they were,” he continued. “We've got a couple of just bumps and bruises that we just need to watch over, but nothing problematic, certainly long-term, so it is what it is.”
One other player who will definitely not feature against Crystal Palace, however, is Germany international centre-forward Niclas Füllkrug, who suffered a more serious hamstring injury in the aforementioned FA Cup third-round tie at Aston Villa on Friday 10 January.
The 31-year-old had only recently returned from a three-month layoff prior to Potter’s arrival, and the recently appointed Head Coach has vowed to work closely with Füllkrug in the future to help him stay on the pitch.
“He's had a bit of a stop-start time since joining, I would say that's fair to say,” Potter observed. “Again, I can't comment on what's happened before, but it can happen at times. He wants everything to go well. He wants to hit the ground running, and for whatever reason, he hasn't been able to do that.
“So our challenge or our job now is to prepare him properly, to make sure he recovers as well as he can and then to look after him, to do everything he can in his rehab, to come back stronger. That's all we can do now.”
