The incident in question occurred 22 minutes into a top-flight encounter at the London Stadium and left those on the field visibly distressed.
Westwood will not be facing a long road to recovery
West Ham’s Nikola Vlasic was reduced to tears during West Ham’s Premier League clash with Burnley after his innocuous challenge on Ashley Westwood left the Clarets star requiring lengthy treatment for a horror injury. The incident in question occurred 22 minutes into a top-flight encounter at the London Stadium and left those on the field visibly distressed. Westwood, who will now be facing a long road to recovery, was forced to leave the pitch on a stretcher as Vlasic had to be consoled by players from both sides before the two teams played out a 1-1 draw. Westwood gathered a loose ball in the middle of the park but saw a heavy touch give Vlasic a shot at stealing possession from him. The Burnley man stuck out a leg to poke the ball wide but was clattered into by a backtracking Hammers forward who meant no harm.
Vlasic sunk to his knees as the severity of the injury dawned on everybody in attendance
Westwood’s right leg became stuck underneath him as it bore the full brunt of Vlasic’s weight as the Croatian came tumbling over his opponent. It was immediately apparent that something serious had happened, with medical staff waved onto the field. After 10 minutes of treatment, Westwood departed to a standing ovation from both sets of supporters. Vlasic sunk to his knees as the severity of the injury dawned on everybody in attendance, with Hammers captain Declan Rice among those to offer words of comfort to a colleague experiencing his own pain. Jackson weighs in on injury following the match; interim Clarets boss Mike Jackson filled reporters in on Westwood’s situation, stating: “He has gone to the hospital, and they are having a look at it at this moment in time.
“Obviously, we know it doesn’t look too good, but fingers crossed it’s not as bad as it seemed. The incident with Ash affected the group, because he’s their mate. We’re just hoping he’s okay.”