Premier League manager on crutches after injuring himself in the dugout | Football | Sport

West Ham United boss Julen Lopetegui was seen hobbling into his pre-match press conference on crutches after picking up an injury during Wednesday night’s League Cup defeat against Liverpool.

It was a miserable night for West Ham, who despite taking the lead early on in the first half were pegged back before the break and went on to lose 5-1.

As humiliating as the scoreline was, West Ham did enjoy positive spells in the contest, with the Hammers missing several chances – and the opportunity to alter the course of the tie – while at 2-1 down.

But the lasting impact of the evening would be felt long after the full-time whistle, at least as far as Lopetegui was concerned, with the Spanish coach injuring himself during the Anfield clash.

When quizzed on the extent of the problem during his press conference ahead of this weekend’s action, Lopetegui revealed he’d picked up a problem with his calf and was using crutches to help him walk.

Away from his own fitness concerns, Lopetegui did admit he felt the 5-1 scoreline was harsh on his side, who, he believes, gave as good as they got.

Speaking to the official club website, Lopetegui commented: “I think we played one of our better matches, but you can’t say that when you look at the scoreline.

“We didn’t deserve to lose by this scoreline, as we had a lot of chances. We suffered one goal, which was offside, in the first half, and that’s the reason why I love VAR,” a subtle dig at the referees, given video technology wasn’t involved at this stage of the competition.

He continued: “In the second half, we could have had a penalty, and the next action they score the second goal.

“After this, we did very, very well and were still in the match until 70 minutes. We had many clear chances to level the match but didn’t score. When we went down to 10 players, it became a lot more difficult, but sometimes this can happen.”

Lopetegui won’t just be crossing his fingers for his own return to fitness, but also for West Ham to turn around their dismal run of form so far this season.

Having won just one of their opening five league matches, and just two from seven across all competitions, the pressure is already building on the ex-Wolves and Real Madrid coach.

Things don’t get much easier this weekend though, given a tricky London derby away to Brentford awaits on Saturday afternoon.