West Ham United manager Slaven Bilic has confirmed in his pre-match news conference ahead of Saturday’s trip to Sunderland that Ecuadorian forward Enner Valencia is potentially “two or three weeks” away from being back in action.
The 25-year-old has been sidelined for two months with a knee injury sustained in the Europa League qualifiers, and is now back in light training.
“Enner will join us in parts of training today,” said Bilic.
It is massive news for us that he is getting closer. If everything goes well it’s a matter of two or three weeks for him.
Andy Carroll’s return to the fold is still being managed carefully, and it is unclear whether he will be involved at the weekend.
Meanwhile, centre-back Winston Reid is unlikely to feature.
Bilic revealed: “Carroll will train with the fitness coach today and if it goes well he will train with us tomorrow and Reid is doubtful.
“They are small things but they may be enough to prevent one or two players from playing.”
One certain absentee for the clash with Sunderland is former Juventus defender Angelo Ogbonna, who pulled his hamstring in the 2-0 win over Newcastle United last month.
“The picture will be clearer on team news after training, but definitely out is Ogbonna,” revealed the Hammers’ boss.
Sunderland are without a league win this term, and sit rock-bottom in the Premier League on two points.
Even so, Bilic is not taking his opposition lightly, and remains fully focused on the task in hand.
“Where we made those three away wins means absolutely nothing for Saturday, because if we begin to think it will be easier against Sunderland then we need to stop that,” insisted the Croatian.
“We are confident, but we are expecting a tough, tough game.
Neutrals are expecting us to win the game on Saturday but we have to be fully aware in our approach to the game.
“We’ve watched their games and in some of them they’ve been very unlucky to be fair. Up front they have some good individuals with pace.”
If West Ham are able to keep up their perfect away record in the Premier League with victory at the Stadium of Light on Saturday afternoon, they will go level on points with league leaders Manchester United for 24 hours at least.
