West Ham United have good news and bad news when it comes to their injury situation this week. Goalkeeper Lukasz Fabianski is coming out of concussion protocol, and stands a decent chance of featuring in this one.
So that is the good news, with Fabianski; now on to the bad news.
FA Cup 3rd Round FYIs
Kickoff: Fri. Jan. 10, 8pm, Villa Park, Birmingham, UK
Team News: West Ham United Aston Villa
Starting XI Predictions: West Ham United Aston Villa
Fun Fact: Aston Villa meet West Ham in the league in August. However, they haven’t beaten the Irons in consecutive competitions since 2010-11.
West Ham Team News
Jean-Clair Todibo and Emerson Palmieri are both out injured, with no set return date, and manager Julen Lopetegui was extremely vague on both.
Regarding Todibo, he said: “We don’t know exactly [what the problem is]. We have to assess him tomorrow, but I am not very optimistic.”
When it comes to Emerson, the embattled boss said: “We suffered an injury yesterday with Emerson, too, in the last training session; that’s why he was not here.”
And of course, you have the longer-term injury absentees, with Michail Antonio being out until at least the start of 2025-26 (probably significantly longer) as he recovers from that early December car crash.
And Jarrod Bowen out until about March with a foot injury.
Paul M. Banks is the Founding Editor of The Sports Bank. He’s also the author of “Transatlantic Passage: How the English Premier League Redefined Soccer in America,” and “No, I Can’t Get You Free Tickets: Lessons Learned From a Life in the Sports Media Industry.”
He currently contributes to USA Today’s NFL Wires Network, the Internet Baseball Writers Association of America and RG. His past bylines include the New York Daily News, Sports Illustrated and the Chicago Tribune. His work has been featured in numerous outlets, including the Wall Street Journal, Forbes, the Washington Post and ESPN. You can follow him on Linked In and Twitter.