West Ham: Julen Lopetegui reveals latest Niclas Fullkrug injury update before Tottenham clash

West Ham will remain without Niclas Fullkrug for Saturday’s London derby clash with Tottenham, and it remains to be seen when exactly the striker will be in a position to return.

Fullkrug’s £27million move from Borussia Dortmund was among the highlights of a busy transfer summer to kick off a new era for the Hammers under Julen Lopetegui , but the German international has yet to start a single Premier League game or score a goal for the club so far.

A lone start in claret and blue against Bournemouth in the Carabao Cup has been accompanied by only three substitute appearances in the top-flight totalling 63 minutes, the last of which was in the 3-1 home defeat by Manchester City on August 31.

Fullkrug has not played since suffering an Achilles injury during a training session while away with Germany last month, with hopes for a return in the Carabao Cup third-round defeat by Liverpool at Anfield proving unfounded.

And the 31-year-old won’t feature this weekend either when West Ham return to league action with a short trip to face London rivals Tottenham on Saturday lunchtime.

“Fullkrug is out, and he is continuing to recover from his injury, but the rest I hope will be able to feature,” Irons boss Lopetegui told reporters on Thursday. “I am going to meet with them this afternoon, but we don’t have bad news about them.

“The problem is that Niclas had one minor injury at the start, but there’s been a bit of a complication with this injury, and we are waiting for him to recover.

“It’s true that we thought he would be out for two weeks maximum, but it’s been a month and a half. Hopefully he will be ready for the next matches, but right now he is out.

“It is true that we had a lot of players in different countries [on international duty], and right now not all of the players have returned. I am going to see the last of the players today and tomorrow, so until the last moment we are not going to be together.

“It is always difficult to prepare for the matches [after a break], but it happens to a lot of teams and not only us. We have to manage this and be ready for the next match against Tottenham.”

West Ham appear to have a clean bill of health to face Tottenham other than Fullkrug, whose absence should lead to Michail Antonio once again leading the attack after he scored a swift opener in a 4-1 win over struggling Ipswich before the international break that eased some early pressure on Lopetegui following a difficult start to his maiden campaign.

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