West Ham's Diafra Sakho set to return against Arsenal as Slaven Bilic gets timely boost

Ready for action: Diafra Sakho trains with West Ham on Tuesday
West Ham United via Getty Images
Ken Dyer5 April 2017

Diafra Sakho looks certain to be on the substitutes’ bench for West Ham against Arsenal at the Emirates Stadium tonight, which is welcome news for beleaguered manager Slaven Bilic.

Without a win in six matches and after four straight defeats, the striker’s long-awaited return is a huge boost to West Ham, who have slipped to 15th in the Premier League table, six points above the bottom three.

Sakho has made just two appearances this season, scoring in a 1-1 draw at Manchester United in November, before suffering a back injury.

The Senegalese forward subsequently underwent an operation for a disc problem in his back, followed by an extensive period of rehabilitation.

Sakho has been back in full training for the last week and suffered no ill-effects.

“He wants to play now,” said Bilic (right), “but he has been out for a long time and we need to be a little careful with him.”

Bilic looks certain though to include Sakho on the bench to face Arsenal tonight and, if he comes through that with no problems, could even start the striker in what is a crucial home match against fellow Premier League strugglers Swansea on Saturday.

Sakho’s return provides a timely fillip for West Ham in what has been a turbulent season. Signed from French club Metz in 2014, the 27-year-old came to prominence when he scored in his first six starts in the Premier League to equal a 20-year-old record.

However, a succession of injuries has hampered his career since and a fall-out with the club last year ended with him submitting a transfer request.

It looked likely that Sakho would move to West Brom last August but the proposed transfer fell through after he failed a medical.

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Also returning for tonight’s match is Michail Antonio, who has recovered from a hamstring strain which forced him to pull out of England’s two recent internationals.

Club captain Mark Noble also looks likely to be back in the starting XI as Bilic looks to shore up his midfield, following the 2-1 defeat at Hull last weekend.

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