Mark Noble worries over West Ham injury crisis
Skipper Mark Noble insists West Ham's injury crisis would hurt any team in the Barclays Premier League.
The Hammers host Southampton on Monday after Boxing Day's 1-1 draw at Aston Villa and Noble believes their missing men would have made the difference.
James Tomkins (head) and Aaron Cresswell (hamstring) were forced off at Villa Park but the club hope they will be fit to face the Saints with Dimitri Payet, Victor Moses, Manuel Lanzini, Andy Carroll and Nikica Jelavic already struggling with injury.
"I'm the first one to say we have a good squad but we miss the players we've got." Noble said. "We miss the players who create stuff and score goals. Take away Jelavic, Carroll, Dimitri, Lanzini and Moses, it's going to hurt any squad. We have managed to cope with it and I'm proud of the players for digging in and picking up the points.
"These teams are playing their full squads and we're asking six or seven players to play when they are not fit. We lost Tomks at half-time and Cress with 20 minutes to go.
"It's only 48 hours (between games) and we'll do a warm down (on Sunday) and start looking forward to Southampton. We need to get three points.
"We have come through a tough spell with a lot of games with a squad which is depleted but the boys have dug in well and I'm proud of them."
Saturday's point means Slaven Bilic's side have drawn their last five games and have not won in eight matches to sit 10th in the table.
Southampton manager Ronald Koeman has confirmed right-back Cedric Soares is to miss out again with a groin complaint, while Italy striker Graziano Pelle will be unavailable for the trip to West Ham and the next "few weeks".
"He's struggling for a few weeks now with his knee," the Dutchman said.
"We had a plan to give him some days off doing treatment and no training.
"The pain was more - that plan was not good - and we take the decision to keep the player out until he is fully recovered to start training again."
Pelle's absence will almost certainly lead to another chance in attack for Shane Long.
Despite rarely faltering since joining Saints from Hull in August 2014, the visit of Arsenal on Boxing Day was just his 21st league start for the club.
Long netted twice as the Gunners were cast aside 4-0, proving a nuisance throughout and hitting the post.
"He was very good," Koeman said. "He was one of the players who creates a big problem to the defenders because he had every time very good offensive movement and he was very dangerous.
"He missed a good chance first half and in the second half the long balls in behind the defenders of Arsenal is the game plan for Shane.
"He's a different number nine to Graziano. It's important to know because you need to play different - a lot of running and he causes every team problems."
Source: PAR
