Big Sam must be spitting feathers.
West Ham’s Champions League-flirting season is quickly going up in smoke and the club has not been helped to injuries to a number of key players.
Andy Carroll is already out, long-term, so the last thing Sam Allardyce needs is another striker going down with a case of the crocks.
Unfortunately, however, that is exactly the fate that befell Colombian target man Enner Valencia. This morning, the Hammers released the following statement.
Valencia sustained a deep laceration of his big toe on Tuesday evening in an accident at his home. He trod on a piece of teacup, which he had dropped, and the resulting wound required emergency hospital treatment to clean and stitch the wound.
The forward was joined at hospital by West Ham United medical staff, who oversaw the surgery required.
It now looks likely that Valencia will miss this weekend’s Premier League tie, away to Arsenal.
Allardyce commented, ‘It was a freak accident at a time when we could have done without it due to our lack of available strikers.’
You can now add Valencia to the ever-growing list of footballers, such as David James and Robbie Brady, that have missed matches due to seriously bizarre and luckless incidents.