Speaking recently on The West Ham Way podcast, ExWHUemployee dropped an injury update on West Ham United left-back Arthur Masuaku ahead of the Hammers’ upcoming fixture against Arsenal this weekend.
So far this season, Masuaku has impressed over his 10 Premier League appearances for David Moyes’ side, making an average of 1.7 tackles, 0.5 interceptions, 1.3 clearances and 0.9 key passes per match, culminating in an average WhoScored match rating of 6.87/10 – ranking him as the club’s joint sixth-best performer in the top flight.
However, the £40,000-per-week 27-year-old has not featured for the Hammers since early December due to a knee injury, and speaking recently on The West Ham Way podcast, ExWHUemployee revealed that despite Masuaku targeting the Arsenal fixture as his return to first-team action, this appears unlikely.
He said: “Arthur Masuaku should be available to play for the U23s on Friday night at Rush Green versus Leicester. I think Arthur was actually hoping to be in the squad for Arsenal, but I assume that this probably means he’s not going to make it. Then we have the international break, which gives him another couple of weeks to be able to get over things.”
Have West Ham missed Masuaku since he's been out of action?
Yes
No
TIF Thoughts on ExWHUemployee’s comments regarding Arthur Masuaku…
It would appear that Masuaku is not far off from returning to action for the Hammers, however, that Sunday’s visit of Arsenal to the London Stadium may come just too soon for the left-back.
Having said that, looking at the brighter side of the update, considering how impressive Moyes’ side have been so far this season – as the Hammers are currently just three points behind fourth-placed Chelsea with a game in hand on the Blues despite the prolonged absence of their first-choice left-back, Masuaku’s return for the run-in is something that is likely to provide Moyes with a huge boost in his side’s chances of securing European qualification this season.