Andriy Yarmolenko to miss West Ham’s trip to Liverpool amid Ukraine conflict

Ukraine international Andriy Yarmolenko will miss West Ham’s Premier League game at Liverpool on Saturday.

The forward was given time off last week following Russia’s invasion of his homeland and is not ready to return to the field this weekend.

Speaking at his pre-match press conference, manager David Moyes said: “He has been training but he won’t travel to Liverpool with us.

“I don’t think he’s quite ready and we want to give him every opportunity to do everything he can for his family and for his country. I think he just feels a little bit bogged down with the situation at this present time.”

Moyes admits he has felt powerless over the unfolding events.

The Scot said: “I feel helpless and that’s not just me as a football manager, but we as a country and a population. I think we all feel as if we can’t do anything.

“We can only give him our full support. We continually ask if there’s anything we can do.

“I spoke with him this morning for 20 minutes about it and tried to ask a few questions about what’s going on etc., but it’s really difficult because nobody’s ever been in these circumstances before and I hope I’m never in them again.

“Coming into training sometimes makes things feel a little better for him and we try to give him a bit of release, but we also want to do everything we can for him and his family.”

The trip to Liverpool is a tough task for the Hammers at the end of a busy week which saw them host Wolves last Sunday before travelling to Southampton in the FA Cup on Wednesday.

Moyes has expressed his concern over the players’ workload.

He said: “We’re not pleased with the Premier League that we’ve had to play so many games, and you can relay that to them please.

“We had a game on Sunday, a cup game on Wednesday and now we’re playing again on Saturday, so three games in six days would not be correct.

“But they (the players) have been really resilient. Whenever we have had to continue playing, even in lockdown and the periods when we’ve been really busy, they have always backed it up and come good again.

“I’ve got a lot of confidence that will happen, but obviously with the fixtures we’ve got it’s made it a really difficult week for us.”

Moyes has never won a game at Anfield in 17 attempts as manager of Everton, Manchester United, Sunderland and West Ham.

The 58-year-old said: “Going to Anfield is difficult and it has been for me over many years.

“I have found it really difficult throughout my career because Liverpool have really, really good teams and they tend to have top managers.

“Hopefully it gets better this time.”