According to Moyes, Lucas Paqueta isn’t ready quite yet, as reported by BBC Sport. Although he has only been working out with the group for two days, Michael Antonio has begun his training. In terms of match fitness and availability, he is still off.West Ham up against it
Even though the Hammers have a home advantage against the Gunners, they are certain to be up against it from the very first whistle.
Mikel Arteta’s side will be full of confidence after their 3-1 win against league leaders Liverpool last time out, with the North London outfit keen to remain in the title race with another three points in East London.
And their task has certainly been made easier with the absence of Paqueta and Antonio for Moyes, with the pair certainly being extremely valuable to their manager.
They have been missing for some time now, and their absence has often proved costly, with the Hammers on a very poor run of form.
In fact, they have not won a single match this year, with their last win ironically coming against Arsenal at the end of December.
Since that 2-0 win at the Emirates, West Ham have picked up several draws, as well as being knocked out of the FA Cup by Bristol City
In other news:
The team is well-known for considering itself the “Academy of Football.”
And in the last several seasons, West Ham has demonstrated why, with a number of promising young players emerging.
Last season, the gifted group won both the league and the FA Youth Cup, demonstrating their potential. The Hammers had not won the coveted FA Youth Cup since the Joe Cole and Michael Carrick squad of 1999.
Moyes delivers crushing news to young stars
However, David Moyes has now broken some heartbreaking news to the fantastic young players of West Ham.
A frank and forthright Moyes states in an interview with the team’s official YouTube channel that it is “sadly” getting harder for young players to succeed in the Premier League.
To begin with, you have to have seen enough of them to believe that they are prepared to practise and compete for the first team, according to Moores.
“I regret to inform you that I believe it’s becoming more difficult for younger lads to enter so early. I think I’ve probably made the Premier League debuts of five 16-year-olds.
“I’ve had a lot of young players throughout my career,” the player said. When I made my debut at Celtic at the age of 18, I was a young player.
‘It’s become much harder’
“We’re well aware of the need to provide young players with more opportunities. However, I believe that given the current state of the Premier League, it is much more difficult to give younger boys their debut.
The young person, perhaps a few years ago, was eighteen. However, I do believe that for Premier League players, it has shifted closer to 21.There has been a worrying trend developing of West Ham losing some of their top young talent.
Homegrown captain and talisman Declan Rice then pushed to join Arsenal in the summer, and that trend extended to first-team stars too.
England youth internationals Jamal Baptiste and Divine Mukasa have left West Ham to join Manchester City.
Last year another England youth star, Sonny Perkins, ditched the Hammers to move to Leeds. Harrison Ashby joined Newcastle.
Difficult for all concerned
Moyes was powerless to stop yet another highly-rated England youth international Amaro Nallo from joining Liverpool recently.
And currently young striker Divin Mubama is refusing to sign a new contract with West Ham.
It’s a difficult situation for all concerned. Moyes – or indeed and Premier League boss – has very little wiggle room to give young players the extended run in the team they often need to find their feet.When given the opportunity, young players must immediately and significantly impact the squad.
But these days, they are hard to come by.
Furthermore, should they remain at West Ham until they become 21 or older in the hopes of succeeding, they will not be prepared for careers in lower levels, both psychologically and physically, and all that goes along with it.
