Slaven Bilic has insisted although it is a big blow to lose James Tomkins with an injury, West Ham have able replacements in the form of Sam Byram and Joey O'Brien.
Tomkins, who has been in fine form for the Hammers in the present campaign, picked up a calf injury in the 1-0 loss to Southampton at the weekend, and had to replaced by summer signing Byram on the 61st minute.
Despite being a full-back, Byram slotted in deftly as a centre-back against the Saints; however, the 22-year-old will not be able to feature against Liverpool in an FA Cup replay tomorrow as he is cup tied after representing Leeds United in the tournament earlier in the season.
On the other hand, O'Brien, who has been sparingly used by Bilic this season, also gave a good account of himself as a centre-back after replacing Tomkins in the first half in the original FA Cup tie at Anfield in late January, a game which ended 0-0.
And Bilic, who expects Tomkins to be sidelined for few weeks, has backed Byram and O'Brien to step up in the 26-year-old’s absence.
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“Tomkins got injured against Southampton with a calf injury and has a scan today. After that we will know how bad it is”, he told a press conference.
“It will probably be a few weeks. Sam Byram is cup-tied and we have Joey O'Brien who is back in training after a long absence.
“Joey is a good player. It is a big blow that Tomkins is out now. It is a good thing that we have Sam and Joey back. We are well covered.”
