Mark Noble set to miss West Ham's crunch clash at City over hernia fears

27 April 2011 15:24
Mark Noble appears certain to miss West Ham's Barclays Premier League game at Manchester City on Sunday although the full extent of his stomach injury was still being assessed.[LNB]Tests have confirmed the midfielder did have a problem, which was feared could be a hernia.Should further assessment back that up, the 23-year-old would likely require surgery that would end his season.[LNB]Noble left the field on a stretcher an hour into Saturday's 3-0 defeat at Chelsea after going down with pains in his lower stomach. He had already missed six weeks this term with appendicitis and has had groin problems in the past.[LNB] At full stretch: Mark Noble could be ruled out of City's game after tests confirmed he did have a stomach injury[LNB]Losing him would be another massive blow to West Ham's survival hopes, with fellow midfielders Scott Parker and Gary O'Neil also currently sidelined.[LNB]Parker is unlikely to return until after Sunday's game, having already missed the last two matches with an Achilles problem, while O'Neil's season is over because of a serious ankle injury.[LNB]That would mean another start in midfield for Jonathan Spector, who had been known primarily as a defender until this term.[LNB] West Ham's Spector looking to repeat survival trick of 2007 Great Scott! Parker could return to face Man City for relegation strugglers West Ham WEST HAM FC

Source: Daily_Mail