Key Sheffield United man leaves West Ham defeat on crutches as Blades' season lurches from bad to worse

Captain John Egan limped off in the 2-0 defeat at West Ham, a result that followed the 8-0 trouncing by Newcastle United last season and leaves the winless Blades rooted to the foot of the Premier League table.

The defender, who landed awkwardly at a corner, left the London Stadium on crutches.

Manager Paul Heckingbottom said: “We want to find out ASAP because coming off he didn’t look good.”

The Blades did at least improve on their 8-0 defeat at home by Newcastle six days earlier, not that they could have been any worse.

England hopeful Jarrod Bowen grabbed his goal after 24 minutes, timing his run into the box to perfection and burying Vladimir Coufal’s low cross.

Tomas Soucek added the second after he was slipped in by Michail Antonio as West Ham all but sewed up a comfortable victory before half-time.

Their boss, Paul Heckingbottom, maintains they can still pick up enough points to stay up.

“We’ll see. I believe it,” he said. “If you look at our games we’ve not lost because other teams are far better, we’ve lost because of key moments. There’s evidence there that we can get the points.

“Results like last week happen. There’s been some surprising ones today. What I didn’t like was the nature of some of the things I saw, I was adamant it was a one-off and I don’t want to see again.

“No one’s going to feel sorry for us. We have to fight for those points.”