Another West Ham star ruled out tonight v Bayer Leverkusen in injury blow

David Moyes stated that Alphonse Areola won't be able to play for West Ham against Bayer Leverkusen in the Europa League quarter-finals.

Moyes also provided updates on two other players: Jarrod Bowen's return timeline is uncertain after being substituted early in the second half of West Ham's 2-1 victory over Wolves, and Kalvin Phillips seems to have injured his hamstring during training, with the severity of his condition still undetermined.

In his pre-match press conference, as reported by the Metro, he said: “Jarrod isn’t with us. He’s twisted his knee and there’s some sort of damage. We can’t give any dates of when he might be back, unfortunately. We’re not sure about when he might return at the moment.

“Alphonse Areola isn’t here with us for this one. Kalvin Phillips kicked the back of someone’s leg in training, and we think he’s just tweaked a bit of a lower hamstring, at the back of his knee. I don’t think it’ll be long-term, but it only happened yesterday so I’m not too sure at the moment.”

West Ham faces a formidable challenge to advance to the Europa League semi-finals. Xabi Alonso's Leverkusen team is still undefeated after an astonishing 41-game run this season.

This makes defeating them in Germany a monumental task for West Ham, especially without key players like Bowen and Areola.

Despite missing key personnel, West Ham has capable replacements, with Fabianski in goal and Paqueta, Kudus, and Antonio aiming to trouble Leverkusen.

There's also the option of deploying Ward-Prowse in an attacking midfield role or utilizing Emerson on the left wing, allowing for tactical flexibility and creativity.

Regardless of the lineup, West Ham's players must deliver top performances to secure a positive outcome at the BayArena against such formidable opponents.