West Ham's season is coming to a dramatic decline as Diafra Sakho could miss the rest of the season with a suspected torn thigh muscle. The Senegalese striker was taken off after 58 minutes on Saturday during the match at home to Stoke City, and early signs are not promising for him. The physiotherapists believed it was a thigh strain but further reports suggest it could be a slight tear, which comes as a huge blow to the Hammers.
The 25-year-old has had a good first season in England, leading the club's scoring charts with 12 goals in all competitions.
His deadly finishing saw his team get off to a tremendous start to the campaign, as they were showing good potential of challenging for European Football for next year.
Promising start
Sakho was a £3.5million acquisition from Metz in the summer of 2014 after picking up the Ligue 2 player of the year award. Sam Allardyce drafted him in and the deal looked to have paid off, especially in the first few months.
His thigh injury comes as a blow to the West Ham faithful, as they already have a few injuries, and their season is fading away while they struggle to hold on to a top ten finish. Enner Valencia is also struggling for fitness, as in the long-term absentee, Andy Carroll. The Hammers face Manchester City next in the Barclay's Premier League as they follow a poor run of form with just one win in their last eleven encounters.
Lack of firepower
Goals have dried up and the atmosphere around East London is poor of late with the manager's job looking in jeopardy. West Ham will certainly be looking to add some extra fire power in the summer to go with Sakho and Valencia. With Carroll a regular on the sidelines and Carlton Cole coming in as the backup, they look very light up front.
It was only recently that the claret and blues were in fact struggling for strikers to be fit after Enner Valencia's freak injury occurred last month.
The likes of Javier Hernandez and Islam Slimani have been talked about over the course of the season as potential signings, but that is certainly one for the back room staff to deal with during the summer transfer window.
