Injury-hit Irons to miss THREE key players at Stoke- updated

Things go from bad to worse for Sam Allardyce's West Ham as assistant manager Neil McDonald confirmed today that captain Kevin Nolan, plus homegrown talents Mark Noble and James Tomkins are all likely to miss Saturday's trip to Stoke.

Both Noble and Tomkins missed out on the 3-2 defeat to Spurs on Monday night; Noble with trapped nerves in his arm (as reported exclusively to you by Blowing Bubbles on Monday afternoon) and Tomkins through a virus; while skipper Nolan limped out of the London derby after 35 minutes following a crunching tackle from Tottenham's Moussa Dembele- and it has been confirmed this afternoon that the 30 year old Scouser has indeed broken his foot and, pending a further scan in a fortnight when the injury will be re-assessed, could be out for as long as eight weeks.

McDonald told the East London Advertiser this afternoon that "we're still waiting for the results of Kevin's scan to come back but his toe is still very sore. He's had problems with his foot all season and has been playing through the pain barrier but now has had a right old whack on it- we'll be able to assess it properly in the next 24 hours, but I would say he's a real doubt for Saturday."

Fellow midfielder Noble is also a major doubt for the trip to the Britannia, the assistant manager confirmed. "We're still assessing his arm- he has a trapped nerve in his neck and arm and so will be a doubt for Saturday. We're working on it but he's not training at the moment." James Tomkins, the Advertiser states, was at the training ground this morning but was still looking under the weather and the defender himself stated that he had doubts about his availability for the clash with the Potters. The only good news for the Irons is that right back Guy Demel will be available for Saturday after making a full recovery from the knock which forced him off early in Monday's game.

All in all, injury woe for West Ham. Stoke away is a tough game at the best of times and it will be interested to see how Big Sam responds to this. The Hammers surely can't afford to lose three games on the bounce or will be dragged into a relegation dogfight. As ever, the Blowing Bubbles team will keep you bang up to date with any further developments.

By Alex Shilling, News Editor

@alexshilling