West Ham's Moyes provides Jarrod Bowen injury update and honest Chris Wilder Sheffield United assessment
David Moyes remained coy on the fitness of Jarrod Bowen leading into this weekend's clash with Sheffield United at Bramall Lane. The West Ham United manager has a number of absentees at present with Michail Antonio and Lucas Paqueta amongst those on the injury list, while Mohammed Kudus is currently away on international duty with Ghana.
As such, all eyes have been on the fitness of key man Bowen this week as he looks to shake off the ankle issue he picked up against Bristol City earlier this month in time for the trip to South Yorkshire. Moyes, though, was giving little away in his pre-match press conference on Friday afternoon.
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Hide Ad"Jarrod is doing better," Moyes told the press. "Will he be available? I won't be giving that information out."
Sunday's game will be the Blades' first since their FA Cup third round win over Gillingham, with the two-week break allowing Chris Wilder time on the training ground with his players in order to help them reset after a hectic festive period. West Ham, on the other hand, didn't have that luxury due to the FA Cup clash they had at Ashton Gate earlier this week. Moyes, though, doesn't necessarily believe that puts them at a disadvantage.
"It's hard to give an exact answer," he said when asked about the break. "Sometimes teams that keep playing do better. I think we had less injuries when we were playing every two or three days and we've got more injuries in the period we've had time off.
"I think the scheduling we had in the first period of the season, we were in need in of break because of the amount of the games we played. In terms of the Christmas games though, I think we had a good break."
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Hide AdHe added: "Chris Wilder has always done a really good job. I think he's won the Manager of the Year a couple of times for the work he's done at Sheffield United. He has a got a great history there and his teams have always been really hard to play against. Bramall Lane always has a great atmosphere so we know it would be a tough game."
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