One notable absence at West Ham yesterday was Kieran Trippier, but it was a welcome boost to see Lewis Hall back in the squad.
Much like Sandro Tonali last month, Trippier has been struck by a bug currently going around, while Hall’s return comes after he trained last week following a few weeks out with a hamstring complaint.
Although fit to start, Howe also revealed after the game that Anthony Gordon is managing a hip issue and has been for a few weeks now, claiming this “played a part” in his decision to take the winger off at half-time.
Discussing that knock before commenting on Trippier and Hall, Howe said:
> _“Anthony (Gordon) was feeling his hip on and off for the last couple of weeks._
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> _“That played a part in that decision (to take him off).”_
On Hall, who had been absent for a month with a hamstring issue, Howe admitted that the 21-year-old has only trained once last week and wouldn’t have been on the bench had Trippier not been ill, which explains why he didn’t come on:
> _“I was very reluctant to put him on. We had no other senior professionals to put on the bench today._
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> _“If we did then he wouldn’t have been on there. He’s done one training session with us and I don’t want to push him too early.”_
Howe then touched on the search for a solution without Trippier, who will hopefully be well enough to return on Wednesday as the boss offered a “wait and see” message on his return:
> _“We were looking for a solution to try and make the team perform better in that position, and we knew going into the game it wouldn’t be easy because Kieran’s got such brilliant strengths that when he’s missing we miss them.”_
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> _“He would have helped us today, but he wasn’t here and we needed to find a different way. Of course, we’re missing Tino as well, two big players. So, yes, that’s why I did what I did.”_
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> _“We’ll wait and see (if he’s OK for Wednesday).”_
Based on Howe’s comments on Hall, I’d be surprised if he’s ready to start in midweek, while Tino Livramento and Yoane Wissa look more likely to return after the international break.
As for Gordon, hip issue or not, he had a shocker yesterday and needs to step up his game after failing to make an impact (once again) in a very winnable Premier League fixture.