Thursday 23 October 2014 23:15, UK
West Ham are hopeful that Andy Carroll will be passed fit to return to the first-team squad within three weeks.
The 25-year-old striker is yet to make an appearance for the Hammers this season due to an ankle injury, but pictures on the club’s official twitter account have revealed that he is back in training.
Carroll, who has been absent since the 2-0 defeat at Manchester City in May, was shown running and took part in a game of head tennis with team-mates.
He will play in a number of practice games to build-up his fitness, with a possible comeback date pencilled in for the Premier League home game against Aston Villa on November 8.
"It'll be another two to three weeks, if he has no niggles or problems, before we talk about playing him in the team at any level," said Hammers boss Sam Allardyce.
"We'll try to get him through three or four behind-closed-doors games and if that goes all right then we would hope to have him back.
"It's been a long, hard road again for Andy and one he's been too familiar with recently, sadly.
"Hopefully he'll have a major impact when he comes back again."
It's been a long, hard road again for Andy and one he's been too familiar with recently, sadly.
A string of injuries have hampered Carroll's career at Upton Park, but the return of the £15m signing from Liverpool will add further firepower to Allardyce’s high-flying team.
Summer signings Diafra Sakho and Enner Valencia have contributed seven goals between them in the absence of Carroll and Saturday’s 3-1 win at Burnley sent the team up to fourth in the table.
The former Bolton manager admits the team's impressive start to the campaign means the club do not have to rush Carroll back into action.
"Last time we got him back and he did his ankle but carried on playing so this time round we don't want to (rush) him," Allardyce added.
"We're hopefully going to get him back as quick as we can but we're not going to rush him back because, touch wood, there's no desperate need at the moment."
