David Moyes hopes West Ham will have Danny Ings available again “quite quickly”, as he also insisted the club have no plans to sell Michail Antonio.
Ings arrived for £12m from Aston Villa to help bolster the Hammers up front, but picked up a knee injury shortly after coming off the bench to make his debut against Everton last weekend.
It’s an issue that is likely to keep the 30-year-old out of upcoming Premier League matches against Newcastle and Chelsea, with a potential return against Tottenham on February 19.
Ings would have been unavailable to face Derby on Monday night in the FA Cup anyway, having already played in the competition for Aston Villa, and Moyes was relatively upbeat was updating reporters on the situation.
“Danny would be cup-tied for this game and we hope he’s not going to miss too much,” Moyes said.
“He’s had an injection in his knee and we hope to have him back quite quickly. We felt we could add to what we’ve got.”
With Ings and Gianluca Scamacca both out, Antonio is expected to lead the line against Derby despite continued speculation about his future.
The striker confirmed this week that he is in talks over a potential January exit, with Wolves among the clubs interested, though he remains the Hammers’ only fit striker.
West Ham maintain they will not sell Antonio this month though, a stance Moyes made clear has not changed.
“Micky is someone who has been talking about his future, rather than the Club,” the West Ham boss said.
He added: “We have no intention of doing anything. We want Mick here, playing well, scoring goals and we’ll be happy to have him.”
