West Ham United manager David Moyes has confirmed that injured defender Kurt Zouma is 'making good progress' but is unlikely to feature in Thursday's Europa Conference League semi-final first leg at home against AZ Alkmaar.
The 27-year-old centre-back has missed the last two games after sustaining an ankle injury in the 4-3 Premier League loss to Crystal Palace at the end of last month.
Moyes has since confirmed at a pre-match press conference on Wednesday that Zouma has returned to West Ham's Rush Green training complex, but Thursday's clash with AZ Alkmaar will likely come too soon for the Frenchman.
"Kurt has had a day back, but he is just starting back really, and we are just trying to see how his ankle is and how he is getting on," the Scotsman told reporters. "Hopefully, he is making good progress.
"It's a good chance that it is probably too soon for tomorrow, but we will see how he feels tomorrow and make a decision based on that."
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Moyes has also revealed that right-back Vladimir Coufal, who has not played since pulling his hamstring against Manchester City earlier this month, remains sidelined, as does Gianluca Scamacca who underwent knee surgery last month.
"I don't think there are any new knocks," Moyes added. "I think there is a lot of tiredness and a lot of fatigue around every camp at the moment from the Premier League. But I think we are all okay."
Meanwhile, midfielder Tomas Soucek has taken part in team training this week despite being on the receiving end of a nasty head collision with Manchester United's Aaron Wan-Bissaka in last Sunday's 1-0 Premier League win at the London Stadium.
Soucek received treatment on the pitch for around seven minutes, but he was fit to finish the match and will be in contention to start against AZ Alkmaar on Thursday.
After moving seven points clear of the Premier League relegation zone with Sunday's crucial win over Man United, West Ham are now 180 minutes away from reaching their first European final in 40 years.
The Hammers were eliminated in the Europa League semi-finals to eventual winners Eintracht Frankfurt last season, but they have another shot at European glory this term and are tasked with defeating Dutch outfit AZ Alkmaar over two legs in the last four of the Europa Conference League.
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Moyes has acknowledged that he is expecting a "really tough" encounter against the Eredivisie side on Thursday night, telling reporters: "I think they are having an amazing season and we have a really tough opponent. Any Dutch team will be good. They play good football and are well-coached.
"I knew about how they are building the club. And they have a lot of exciting young players, and signing a lot of young players. It is a great model if it suits your club.
"Their young players are doing well and it looks like they are building for the future but they also have a good team right now."
Moyes added: "It would be terrific (to reach the Europa Conference League final). I don't think we have hidden away [from our ambitions] of reaching the final. But when you get to the semi-final you have another opponent you have to respect because you don't get to the semi-final unless you are a good side.
"It is incredibly difficult to win any of the major trophies with the standard of the football teams you have to beat. Everybody wants to be successful but we are trying. It was a great thing to reach the semi-final last year and we are hoping to go one step further and reach the final this year."
West Ham secured a 5-2 aggregate victory over Gent in the quarter-finals last month, while AZ Alkmaar beat Anderlecht – who finished second in the group stage behind West Ham – 4-1 on penalties following a 2-2 draw over two legs.
Oliver Thomas
