Thursday 16 March 2017 23:58, UK
West Ham captain Mark Noble will be on the sidelines for the Premier League visit of Leicester on Saturday.
The 28-year-old has been playing through the pain of a dead leg but he aggravated the problem during Saturday's defeat at Bournemouth.
The Leicester match is followed by the international break and Hammers boss Slaven Bilic has told Noble to use the time to rest and fully recover.
Cheikhou Kouyate has been filling in at right-back in recent matches but is now expected to replace Noble in midfield.
A loyal Hammers servant with almost 400 appearances to his name, Noble told Sky Sports News HQ earlier this week that this season has been "the hardest" of his West Ham career.
A certain section of the club's support have called for Noble to be dropped but the player says he can "handle that pressure".
"He is the captain and is doing everything for the club," said Bilic. "He is exactly what a captain should be, but sometimes it is too much.
"Sometimes he takes it home and thinks about that - not only about him but about the club.
"A man can take only what he can take, basically. I spoke about that with him. He is not available for Saturday and after that we have an international break.
"I left it to him, his decision whether to go somewhere for a week and come back as strong as he was. I have no worries about Mark."
