Ben Dinnery

Thu 9 December 2021 8:08, UK

West Ham could have Kurt Zouma back to face Leeds United or Manchester United in January following his injury blow.

That is the view of injury specialist Ben Dinnery, who runs the Premier Injuries website and has a background in medicine and data analysis.

As confirmed by West Ham on Tuesday (7 December), Zouma suffered a hamstring tendon injury in the win over Chelsea.

Dinnery has suggested Zouma will be out of action until at least after the New Year’s Day fixture.

As such, he could return for the FA Cup or Premier League game against Leeds (8 and 16 January) or the visit to Manchester United (22 January)

Dinnery told Football Insider’s Russell Edge: “The club haven’t released full details of the nature of the injury.

“But reading between the lines of what we understand, first and foremost, tendon injuries, they tend to take a little bit longer in terms of their recovery.

“That’s just due to the complex nature of that remodelling collagen of that tendon. That’s why that tends to extend beyond what we consider a normal hamstring injury.

“I think it’s going to be early 2022. What West Ham fail to mention and will influence that potential return to play is whether there’s any other structural damage.

“Whether it’s just the tendon or maybe some of the muscle involvement as well. We’re reading between the lines here. However, we could safely assume that we’re probably looking at around about a grade two, a typical timeline.

“So early 2022, maybe mid-to-late-January, given the fact that there’s a Premier League game on New Year’s Day. Then it’s the FA Cup.

“After that, we’ve got more Premier League and then we have the winter break. It’s sensible to manage the players correctly.”

Zouma nailed down a starting role under David Moyes after joining from Chelsea this summer.

The 27-year-old has a total of 12 appearances under his belt for the Irons.

In other news, pundit claims West Ham could seal “great” loan-to-buy deal from Premier League giants in January.