West Ham United midfielder Lucas Paqueta is a doubt for the Hammers' home meeting with Bournemouth on Thursday night
(Image credit: Getty Images)
West Ham United look set to remain without injured attacking midfielder Lucas Paqueta for Thursday night's home Premier League clash with Bournemouth.
Paqueta returned from a brief injury lay-off earlier this month, but the the Brazil international lasted barely 10 minutes of West Ham's FA Cup third round tie against Bristol City before having to be substituted.
It later emerged that the 26-year-old had picked up a calf injury which would keep him out for around four weeks.
Will West Ham United star Lucas Paqueta be fit enough to play against Bournemouth?
Paqueta has featured in 18 of West Ham's 21 Premier League games this season, all from the start (Image credit: Getty Images)
West Ham look certain to be missing Lucas Paqueta for the visit of Bournemouth, leaving manager David Moyes having to replace someone he recently described as "special". Speaking shortly before Christmas, Moyes said:
"He's a special player. I've not had huge amounts of special players with that individual talent – so there's a little bit of leeway we have to give him, and I'm not someone who likes giving too much leeway to any of my players.
The official Fantasy Premier League website currently gives Paqueta just a 25% chance of being fit to play against Bournemouth.
As such, one would expect one or both of Pablo Fornals and Maxwel Cornet – both of whom started West Ham's 2-2 draw at Sheffield United last time out, the latter scoring – keep their place in the side.
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Moyes' Hammers are in decent form as they prepare to host the Cherries, having won six and drawn three of their last 10 Premier League games.
Tom Hancock started freelancing for FourFourTwo in April 2019 and has also written for the Premier League and Opta Analyst, among others. He supports Wycombe Wanderers and has a soft spot for Wealdstone. A self-confessed statto, he has been known to watch football with a spreadsheet (or several) open...
