West Ham United manager David Moyes has confirmed that Lucas Paqueta will miss Sunday’s Premier League encounter with Arsenal at the London Stadium. Paqueta has been sidelined for each of the Hammers’ last four matches across all competitions since sustaining a calf injury in a 1-1 draw with Bristol City in the FA Cup at the beginning of January.
Initial reports suggested that the Brazilian could be sidelined for between six and eight weeks, and Moyes has since revealed at a press conference on Friday that the playmaker “isn’t ready yet” to make his comeback.
However, West Ham have been boosted by the return to training of striker Michail Antonio, who has not played since December 12 due to a knee ligament injury sustained on international duty with Jamaica.
Sunday’s contest with London rival Arsenal will likely come too soon for Antonio, but Moyes is pleased to have the 33-year-old back in training.
“Michail Antonio has started training, but has only trained for two days with the group,” said the Scotsman. “It’s great having him back training, but he’s still off it in terms of match fitness and being available.
West Ham enter their latest fixture with Arsenal having failed to win any of their last four Premier League games, with three successive draws followed by last weekend’s 3-0 defeat at Manchester United.
The Hammers, who have subsequently slipped to seventh in the table, last celebrated collecting three points in the league against none other than Arsenal, winning 2-0 at the Emirates Stadium on December 28.
“We’ve tried to give the players a bit of time training together, which we’ve needed because we’ve been off the boil a little,” said Moyes. “Getting them all back together has been good and hopefully we can build on it.
“We’ve beaten Manchester United, Arsenal, Chelsea this year. We’re giving the top teams a game and hopefully we can do the same on Sunday.
“The win against Arsenal doesn’t make me feel more confident, but it makes me feel that we’ve shown we can take points off Arsenal. We’ve scored goals against them and that would be the key again to give ourselves a chance.
“Our home form has been pretty good in the main this season and hopefully we can keep it up.”
“[Mikel Arteta] has done a brilliant job with the team,” Moyes added. “They’ve got some really top quality players. They are a top team, they really are.
“We did a great job getting a win at the Emirates and overall we’ve had some good results against them. We’ll have to work hard and play well again when we play them on Sunday.”
West Ham, who also beat Arsenal 3-1 in the EFL Cup earlier this season, are looking to complete a Premier League double over the Gunners for the first time since the 2006-07 campaign.