West Ham manager David Moyes has raised concerns about the scheduling of their Premier League clash with Brighton, which prevented him from fielding his Africa Cup of Nations-bound squad players.
The 0-0 draw against Brighton on January 2 marked the conclusion of gameweek 20. Mohammed Kudus and Nayef Aguerd were unavailable due to their call-ups by Ghana and Morocco for the upcoming AFCON.
Moyes questioned the timing, suggesting a potential rescheduling to allow African players to participate, similar to players in other leagues.
“It feels a bit strange that we’re playing on the second of January,” Moyes said.
“Could we not have played on the first and allowed our African players to be allowed to play yesterday, because they can’t play today? I feel that’s something which isn’t correct. I just think why couldn’t we have our African players the same as everybody else?
“Brighton might have had players at the Asian Games — I know (Kaoru) Mitoma’s injured I think — but they might have the same feeling.
“It’s nothing to do with the performance, Brighton were without lots of good players and we were without lots of good players. But I don’t see at this point why you would play a game and be disadvantaged by some of your players not being able to play. I’m not saying any more.”
