West Ham are set to be without Kevin Nolan for several weeks after it was confirmed that the club's captain has a broken toe.
The Englishman suffered the injury after a robust tackle from Tottenham's Moussa Dembele in West Ham's 3-2 Premier League defeat on Monday.
West Ham assistant Neil McDonald told reporters Nolan had experienced issues with his toe all season.
"He's had problems in the past with it, all season really," McDonald said.
"He has had problems with his foot all season and he has been playing through the pain barrier. It's probably worse than it has been with him having the kick right on it."
With just one win in their last seven league games, West Ham are now just six points clear of the relegation zone, but McDonald insists that the team are not looking anxiously over their shoulders.
"We've always looked up the table this season and we've always tried to get into the top 10 and, with a good result on Saturday, we can push ourselves a little bit closer to that," he said.
"I think the away form hasn't been as good as we'd have liked. Our home form has been really, really good, even though we've lost a couple.
"We have to address that; we've got to be a little tighter and a bit more physical away from home and make sure we try and keep a clean sheet.
"If we can do that, that gives us a good chance to get back to winning ways on our travels."
