Taylor and Reid battling to be fit for Saturday
Hammers duo Matty Taylor and Winston Reid both face a race to prove their fitness in time for Saturday’s game at Crystal Palace.
Midfielder Taylor was withdrawn in the latter stages of West Ham’s 1-0 win against Peterborough last weekend with a calf injury.
David Bentley played on the left-hand side of midfield in the Hammers’ defeat at the hands of Ipswich on Tuesday, but the team lacked width and missed Taylor’s delivery from set-pieces.
Meanwhile, defender Reid was missing from the 16-man squad altogether, and it remains to be seen whether West Ham boss Allardyce recalls the New Zealand international in time for Saturday.
In the Hammers’ last London derby at Millwall, Allardyce chose to pair James Tomkins with Abdoulaye Faye in central defence, for fear that the occasion would get to Reid, and it seems as though the West Ham boss is thinking along the same lines for this weekend.
“It depends on how Matty’s injury is and how Winston’s injury is (whether they are recalled for Saturday),” said Allardyce.
With Papa Bouba Diop receiving his first call-up to the bench on Tuesday, it seems that Reid may have to wait for his chance.
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