West Ham United have been handed important team-news information before Saturday’s Championship clash after Derby County confirmed Craig Forsyth and Lewis Travis will both miss the trip to London Stadium.
Forsyth has suffered a knee injury which Derby fear will keep him out for several months, while captain Travis is expected to be unavailable for another three or four weeks.
Both players are therefore ruled out of Saturday’s 3pm meeting with Nuno Espírito Santo’s side.
Derby suffer double blow before West Ham trip
Derby head coach John Eustace confirmed the extent of the two injuries in his latest pre-match update.
Forsyth underwent a scan after being forced off during Tuesday’s 2-0 win at Portsmouth.
Eustace said the defender is now due to see a specialist and admitted it “doesn’t look good”, with Derby expecting him to be sidelined for a few months.
The 37-year-old started at left-back at Fratton Park and played 80 minutes before Kane Wilson Nyambe replaced him.
Travis had already missed that victory through injury.
There is better news over the midfielder than initially feared, but Eustace confirmed he will still be absent for around three or four weeks.
That removes two experienced players from a Derby side which had finally registered its first Championship victory of the season on Tuesday.
West Ham have already been warned about Derby’s improvement following their Portsmouth win and triple Deadline Day signing spree.
Eiran Cashin, Mohammed Fuseini and David Ozoh all joined Eustace’s squad before the window closed, giving the Rams fresh options despite their injury problems.
Cashin could now become particularly important after Eustace admitted Derby were already short of defensive numbers.
West Ham nevertheless have an opportunity to take advantage.
Nuno’s side finally secured their first Championship victory with Tuesday’s 4-2 win over Wolves and will be looking to build consecutive victories for the first time this season.
Derby arrive with momentum of their own, but losing Forsyth and Travis removes two experienced figures from Eustace’s plans before what he described as a difficult trip against a “fantastic squad” at London Stadium.
