West Ham fear Kurt Zouma could be out for rest of season with ankle injury

West Ham’s European hopes have suffered a blow after scans revealed that Kurt Zouma’s ankle injury could rule out the defender for the rest of the season.

Zouma has not travelled to France for Thursday’s Europa League quarter-final second leg against Lyon and is unlikely to make a swift return. The commanding centre-back was forced off during the first half of West Ham’s 2-0 defeat by Brentford last Sunday and tests have indicated that the France international is facing at least a month on the sidelines.

West Ham, who drew 1-1 with Lyon in last Thursday’s first leg, will continue to assess the injury and are holding on to hope that the initial prognosis is overly pessimistic. Zouma has been a key player since his £29.8m move from Chelsea last summer and David Moyes will be desperate to have him back for the run-in, especially as Angelo Ogbonna is out for the season with a knee injury.

The prospect of being without his favoured centre-back pairing against Lyon will be a major worry for Moyes. Craig Dawson has not let anyone down since coming in for Ogbonna but there are concerns over Issa Diop’s form. Diop struggled after replacing Zouma in the 29th minute against Brentford and was at fault when Bryan Mbeumo opened the scoring.

The worry for West Ham, who are sixth in the Premier League and still in with a chance of qualifying for the Champions League, is that they were leaky when Ogbonna and Zouma were out at the same time earlier this season. Dawson and Diop were an unconvincing partnership in central defence.

Another complication for Moyes is that West Ham will also be without Aaron Cresswell against Lyon after the influential left-back was controversially sent off during the first leg. Cresswell gives the team balance