Monday 7 December 2015 11:39, UK
West Ham striker Diafra Sakho is set to miss two months with a thigh injury.
The Senegal international sustained the injury in the last weekend's 1-1 draw with West Bromwich Albion, and despite initial fears his season could be over, Hammers coach Slaven Bilic is expecting to have him back early in the New Year.
"Diafra Sakho, we are still waiting for the results of his scan, but it will definitely not be a couple of weeks - four to eight, maybe longer," Bilic said in his press conference ahead of Saturday's visit to Manchester United.
"We are waiting for the opinion of a couple of specialists. He has a bit of history with that thigh. It's not a light one unfortunately.
"Of course it's a big blow. We are not bad in terms of quantity of injuries, but unfortunately they have happened to key players."
The Hammers are already without attacking midfielder Dimitri Payet (ankle) until at least February while striker Enner Valencia has also been sidelined since November with an ankle injury.
Bilic revealed that Valencia was nearing a return and is confident Andy Carroll can step up after making an impact off the bench in several games this season.
"Enner is having a good recovery so hopefully we will have him in a couple of weeks. It's a good chance for the guys to step in," Bilic said.
"Andy has lifted our game when he has come in for the last 20 or 30 minutes and now he needs to show that from the start."
"He showed his class, and so far he has showed it more as an impact player when he has come on. He has got the quality, sometimes the players need a longer time to gel in completely and play like they did before the injury. We hope he's going to do that now for us, if he plays of course."
Despite widespread criticism over the style of Manchester United's play this season, Bilic said Louis van Gaal's side are defensively strong and will be difficult to beat at home.
"They're not conceding goals and somebody said they are boring, but they having the ball. They are not a team that is giving you the ball and defending, you can call that kind of football, sometimes, boring," he said.
"Especially at home, when the opponents are defending with numbers and are compact, you can't play very vertically.
"You need gaps and space behind or in between the lines of the opponent. That's hard to find. We can call it controlled football, we can call it patient football, but it is so far very effective because they are sitting good in the table."
