Bilic injury news: Carroll to return vs Huddersfield, but Lanzini is out again

West Ham manager Slaven Bilic declared Andy Carroll as “ready” to end his long term absence in the home opener against Huddersfield Monday evening. But star playmaker Manuel Lanzini will be unavailable for the Hammers once again in this early season crucial fixture.

In his usual pre-match press conference Friday, Bilic declared his often injured star forward as fully fit and a guarantee to at least be in the matchday squad against the newly promoted side.

“He looks okay, he’s been training with us for about four weeks now,” Bilic said of Carroll. “He looks good, it’s about time. He’s going to be in the squad definitely. We have two trainings. Okay, we’re playing Monday night. But he’s going to be in the squad for the game.”

But as Carroll recovers from his own groin travails, Lanzini has unfortunately entered into his own struggles with the same body part, during an international break in which he did not feature at all for Argentina.

“He’s got a very similar injury, but not on that level,” Bilic said about Lanzini. “He’s not ready for the game and not going to be ready for a game for a couple weeks time, between two or three weeks. So he’s not going to be ready for the Huddersfield game but, let’s be honest, it would be great if he comes back for West Brom game. But, maybe he is going to miss two of them. It ain’t going to be a surprise if he miss also West Brom. But it’s nothing major. “

Also suffering injury over the course of the international break was Edimilson Fernandes, who has an ankle problem and will also be out for Monday. But Winston Reid is back healthy after his freak pre-match warmup injury against Southampton.