West Ham have suffered a crushing blow with Michail Antonio facing at least a month on the sidelines.
The Hammers’ top scorer suffered a hamstring injury in last weekend’s 1-1 draw with Manchester City and scans have shown it is worse than first feared.
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David Moyes is now braced to be without one of his most influential players for a lengthy spell, starting with Saturday’s trip to Premier League champions Liverpool.
The versatile 30-year-old has been in outstanding form in a central forward role since football returned in June after a 100-day hiatus, scoring 11 goals in 13 games.
This season he has played a key role, netting three times in six Premier League appearances as the Hammers have taken many by surprise with their impressive performances.
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Moyes’ side have had a tough start but have picked up eight points and improved considerably in recent weeks.
After losing their opening two games to Newcastle and Arsenal, West Ham beat Wolves and Leicester and drew with Tottenham and Man City.
Moyes underlined just how important Antonio was while speaking to talkSPORT after the draw with Man City on Saturday.
He said: “It was a great goal. Micky (Antonio) has become so important, a bit like Marko Arnautovic was a couple of years ago when we were here.
“We needed somebody to get us goals and play up front in a way to get us up the pitch. Micky can do that because he’s powerful and quick.
“We’ve got to hope the injury isn’t too serious because he’s a really good player and he’s doing great.”
It is, however, more serious than first feared and Antonio will absent for their match against Premier League champions Liverpool on Saturday, as well as a host of other upcoming fixtures.
You can listen to Liverpool vs West Han live on talkSPORT with kick-off at 5.30pm.
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