The club’s head of medical and sports science, Stijn Vandenbroucke, had already confirmed Carroll’s absence for the upcoming FA Cup fifth-round clash against Championship side Blackburn Rovers.
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“The pressure’s all on West Ham”.
“And the FA Cup should remain as the greatest cup competition, it is fantastic”.
Bilic knows all about FA Cup humblings at West Ham.
“They’ve played in front of big crowds before”, said Lambert.
He has scored three goals in the competition this season and also netted in Tuesday’s 3-0 win against Fulham, which ended Rovers’ run of nine league games without a win.
“We don’t have a midweek game so we’re going to put the strongest team out”.
In the fourth round there was one of the more memorable moments in recent years when Angelo Ogbonna thundered home a 120th-minute header to prevent the tie with Liverpool going to penalties and send the Hammers through to the last 16, a stage that they have not got past in five years.
Addressing the timescale for Carroll’s return during a pre-match press conference, Bilic was quoted as saying by the Press Association: “It’s not a big injury, maybe a couple of weeks. We all travelled to London but unfortunately I didn’t play”.
“We have rested a few players this week and I think we are well prepared for the game”.
Having knocked Liverpool out in such memorable fashion, West Ham will not want to go out with a whimper here and Blackburn should not pose much of a threat for Bilic’s boys. However, midfielder Manuel Lanzini is fit after a hamstring injury.
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“Enner Valencia suffered a right ankle injury in a tackle during the second half and came off, while Andy Carroll injured his adductor”.
