Source: Telegraph
West Ham's Luis Boa Morte suffers suspected cruciate ligament injury against Tottenham
Boa Morte left the field during West Ham’s 1-0 defeat with his leg heavily strapped to be taken to hospital to be assessed but the prognosis does not look good for the 31-year-old.
Jermain Defoe scored the only goal of the game in which West Ham were second best and clearly rocked by the early sight of Boa Morte leaving the field in such pain.
Just 10 minutes in to the match at the Workers Stadium in Beijing Boa Morte was left in agony after a coming together with Benoît Assou-Ekotto.
Zola was clearly concerned for his player speaking after the game and was also unhappy with the performance put in by his side a matter of weeks before the start of the new Premier League season.
"We are still waiting," said Zola. "He has gone to the hospital for a scan but we are waiting for further news. I did not see what happened. We know it is his knee but that is all I can say."
Boa Morte featured in more than 30 games for West Ham last season as they secured a ninth-place finish in the Premier League.
"It is a big blow for me," added the Italian. "He is an important player both on the pitch and off the pitch.
"Hopefully it is not too bad as he is a vital player for us."
Reflecting on the game, Zola continued: "(I'm) not really (happy) but it is totally understandable. It is the first competitive game we have played this summer.
"I am going to use it as a good game to see the problems that we will work on so I will take it in a positive way."
James Collins was one of the better performers for West Ham and the Wales international was able to extract the positives from the defeat.
"We are not happy with the performance tonight but that is what pre-season is for and we will work on that," he said.
"You don't want to lose any games. Especially against a local rival. It was a tough game but we can look on it as things to work on and improve on."
