West Ham United manager David Moyes had confirmed that Gianluca Scamacca, Nayef Aguerd and Emerson Palmieri are all doubtful ahead of Sunday's Premier League encounter against Southampton.
Scamacca and Emerson both represented Italy during the international break in Euro 2024 qualifiers against England and Malta, with the former making two substitute appearances and the latter playing the full 90 minutes against Malta.
Aguerd, meanwhile, earned his 29th and 30th international caps for Morocco in friendlies against South American duo Brazil and Peru, beating the former 2-1 and playing out a goalless draw with the latter.
All three players returned to West Ham's Rush Green training ground earlier this week along with the other first-team players who were away on international duty.
However, Moyes had confirmed that the trio are currently dealing with either illness or minor injury issues and will be assessed ahead of kickoff on Sunday.
Asked to provide a fitness update on his squad at a press conference on Friday, Moyes said: "We're pretty good. We've got illness here and there and a couple of injuries [with the players coming back from international duty].
"Emerson has had a bit of sickness, Aguerd came back with a bit of a grumbly hip and Scamacca has a bit of a sore knee, so we'll see where they are the next few days."
Meanwhile, Lukasz Fabianski (fractured cheekbone/eye socket), Vladimir Coufal (heel) and Michail Antonio (calf) have all taken part in training this week after spell out through injury, and the trio could be in a position to make the matchday squad on Sunday.
West Ham now embark on an important stage in their season as they endeavour to steer themselves away from the Premier League relegation zone while also managing their efforts in the Europa Conference League knockout rounds.
The Hammers currently sit 18th in the Premier League table, just one point adrift of safety with a game in hand on six fellow relegation-threatened teams above them, and Moyes – who has come under intense scrutiny for a number of weeks – has insisted that his side are "ready" for the challenge.
"I think they're ready, we're in a good frame of mind and will pick up the points we need to not be at the bottom end of the table" said the Scotsman.
"I've not worked it out [how many points we will need to stay up]. Nine or 10 teams are involved at the bottom and we have to work a way of being safe come the end of the season and I'm sure we will be.
"We've got nine games in April and a lot of them at home, so it'll take a lot from the players, and anything the supporters will hopefully add to the players' effort."
Asked for his thoughts on the congested relegation battle, Moyes added: "Quite often teams have broken away and we've not had so many teams fighting it out, but there is very little difference between a lot of teams aside from the three or four outstanding teams.
"Getting wins at the start of the season can make a difference, but we didn't and we paid the price and we're trying to make up for that."
West Ham have won only one of their last six Premier League games, but they will be confident of success on Sunday having lost just one of their last 10 top-flight meetings against basement club Southampton. body check tags ::
