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This has been a rough week. Hopefully, some players will be returning from the injury report to lighten the blow of three straight losses. Here’s the injury rundown.
After the nasty scissor tackle from Harry Kane in Week 1, it sounds like positive news on Florian Lejeune. The French defender is back at training and could be involved at the weekend. Lejeune’s return would be a big boost a defense that currently has Chancel Mbemba, thought of a reserve center back, starting at left back.
Paul Dummett, on the other hand, did not get the best news from the trainer this week. It sounds like Dummett will be out through the international break. The much maligned left back went down with a pretty nasty hamstring injury against Spurs, and he’ll need a bit more time to sort out his fitness.
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Onto a player that hasn’t featured once yet this season, DeAndre Yedlin has been back at practice and seems ready to start his season. He didn’t feature in the Forest match, but all indications are that he’ll be ready to roll for Saturday’s league match. I’d be surprised if he wasn’t starting at right back.
A player that is often on the trainers table impressed supporters during the 3-2 loss to Nottingham Forest on Wednesday. Rolando Aarons was arguably the most valuable player in the Cup match, was taken off late on due to an injury scare. However, it looks like it was more of a precaution and he should be good to go should Rafa Benitez want to deploy him against the Hammers.
Rolando Aarons will be okay for Saturday - he's was taken off with cramp Benitez says.
— Keith Downie (@SkySports_Keith) August 23, 2017
Now, this isn’t an injury on the “injury report” per se, but one to watch is Dwight Gayle. Gayle hasn’t looked just right so far, and it’s possible that missing a lot of the preseason matches has him not fully up to speed yet. I’m not saying he’s going to miss the West Ham match, but it might be an opportunity for Rafa Benitez to give Aleksandar Mitrovic a start and give his #9 a rest.
That’s all on the injury front...let’s hope Lejeune comes back for the West Ham match, and we can continue to get healthy as we prepare for the international break.