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Kurt Zouma: West Ham boss David Moyes says defender better after ‘bad illness’ ahead of Newcastle match | Football News


David Moyes says West Ham defender Kurt Zouma has recovered from a “bad illness” and should be available for selection against Newcastle in the Premier League on Saturday.

​​Zouma was initially selected in West Ham’s starting line-up for the 2-2 draw with Leicester last weekend, but the club confirmed he was withdrawn after feeling unwell and was replaced by Issa Diop.

The West Ham manager has continued to select the centre-back despite a disturbing video emerging of him kicking his cat across his kitchen floor.

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Graeme Souness says he has ‘zero sympathy’ for Zouma with West Ham originally selecting the player – who then withdrew with illness – for the game at Leicester last weekend despite being filmed kicking his cat

“He’s better, but it’s taken him a couple of days to get over it. He had a quite bad illness,” Moyes told reporters as West Ham prepare to welcome Newcastle to the London Stadium.

“He’s trained the last couple of days so I’m hoping that he’ll be available.

Asked how Zouma was mentally, Moyes added: “I think he’s probably really disappointed about what he’s done and he’s thinking about it a lot, no doubt, but overall we have tried to get him to move on.

“We want him to concentrate on his training. He played very well for us against Watford the other week there, so we’re hoping that we can keep him at those levels of performance – we’ll be pleased with that.

“He’s really well-liked here amongst the supporters, the performances he’s put in throughout the season already, so hopefully he can focus on his football and we’ll give him as much support as we can until we get him right back to his best.”

David Moyes
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David Moyes has continued to select Zouma despite a disturbing video emerging of the centre-back kicking his cat

Zouma’s cats have been taken away by the RSPCA after a video emerged of him hitting, dropping, and kicking his pet on Monday.

The 27-year-old issued an apology and has been fined two weeks’ wages – understood to be £250,000 – which will be donated to animal welfare charities, while Adidas have dropped the player as a client.

Moyes said: “We have been clear and concise. There is an investigation going on at the moment but I am not an expert on that. I do not think we have been misleading at all.”

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