West Ham duo James Collins and Cheikhou Kouyate returned to training on Thursday in a massive boost for the club ahead of their crucial clash with Southampton this weekend, according to a Hammers insider.
ExWHUemployee, who is a reliable source for exclusive club information on Twitter, revealed that the two key stars had trained with the squad ahead of Saturday’s match.
Ex did however claim that attacking ace Manuel Lanzini had missed training after picking up a knock on international duty with Argentina, with the 25-year-old to be assessed on matchday.
The update was posted to Twitter on Thursday evening:
Injury update: Apparently Ginge trained today as did Kouyate so both are set to feature against Southampton. Lanzini didn’t train and will be assessed on Saturday ?
— ExWHUEmployee (@ExWHUEmployee) March 29, 2018
Collins had been thought a doubt for the game after aggravating an old hamstring issue during a fundraising game against Dagenham and Redbridge last week.
Midfield destroyer Kouyate had withdrawn from international duty from Senegal with illness, and Lanzini had to sit out of Argentina’s 6-1 humbling by Spain with his latest injury.
OPINION
Collins and Kouyate returning will be a big boost for the Hammers ahead of this key relegation clash. Defence has been an area where the club have been massively lacking this season, and they will need everyone fit against the Saints. Lanzini’s potential absence is a big blow, but you would think that the Hammers have enough attacking reinforcements to deal with that. The importance of this clash cannot be overstated, with the Saints just two points below them and a loss could therefore see the Hammers drop into the bottom three.