West Ham star highly likely to face former club in the upcoming match

During the second half of West Ham's away fixture against Fulham, left back Emerson Palmieri picked up an injury and felt some discomfort. This led manager Julen Lopetegui to replace him with experienced right back Vladimir Coufal, who played the remaining half an hour as a leftback in the 1-1 draw. The injury initially felt huge and it seemed highly likely that West Ham will have to rely on Aaron Cresswell and Vladimir Coufal to provide defensive stability in place of Emerson for the next few games. 

In the last few seasons, Cresswell has struggled with pace while defending against world class Premier League forwards and thus, is a second choice fullback option after Emerson at the left side of the defence. Coufal has also been far from great this season and makes a few misplaced passes during the build up play as well. Therefore, Julen Lopetegui's side needed to find a decent starting lineup and a defensive formation to avoid conceding alot of goals in Emerson's absence. 

West Ham star highly likely to face former club in the upcoming match

However, that isn't the case and the Italy international can be available for the upcoming Premier League match against Chelsea, where he will face his former club. Emerson won the UEFA Champions League during his stay at the Stamford Bridge and established himself as a reliable and versatile fullback in his last season at Chelsea, before joining the Hammers in a £15 million transfer move in 2022. Now, The Sun reporter Jack Rosser reported that Emerson will recover quickly from his injury, saying,

"West Ham hopeful Emerson has avoided serious injury after scans today. Picked up a thigh problem at Fulham but scans showed nothing too concerning."

- Jack Rosser

This means that Emerson will be available for the massive home fixture against Chelsea where West Ham are aiming to take a win after back to back home defeats against Aston Villa and defending Premier League Champions Manchester City.