West Ham manager David Moyes has stated that Craig Dawson and Aaron Cresswell are “getting nearer to fitness” and have travelled to Denmark.
The 59-year-old was speaking ahead of the Hammers’ trip to Silkeborg for their group stage encounter in the Europa Conference League tonight.
Dawson has been struggling with a persistent thigh injury throughout the summer and into the first few weeks of the season, finally making his return as a late substitute against FCSB in this competition last week. Meanwhile, Cresswell has sat out the Irons’ last two games
Speaking to the media ahead of Thursday’s clash in Denmark, Moyes said: “Craig Dawson and Aaron Cresswell have travelled, but Ben Johnson hasn’t. So, we’ll have a look at them and obviously we have to check out what is best for them regarding the surface et cetera, but we’ve brought them with us and they’re both getting nearer to fitness.
“Craig had had six weeks out and Cressy’s only probably had two weeks out really, so we just need to make sure that their injuries are okay, but they have done a bit of training.”
Welcome returns
The duo made 92 appearances between them last season and were two of Moyes’ most important players in the marathon 2021/22 campaign.
With a 7.01 average match rating (SofaScore) in the Premier League, Cresswell was the Hammers’ third-best performer and ranked first among defenders, while Dawson’s 7.17 average in the Europa League was bettered only by Declan Rice and Issa Diop.
West Ham have only managed two clean sheets in their first nine games of 2022/23 as Moyes has had contend with injuries and be patient while summer arrivals Emerson Palmieri and Thilo Kehrer bed in at the back.
However, with one more league game before the international break away to Everton on Sunday, the return of two of their more experienced individuals to the defence could help to propel the Hammers out of the bottom three, while also giving them a solid platform to make it two wins from two in their Europa Conference League group tonight.
