West Ham's Antonio, Creswell back for Liverpool trip

(Reuters) - West Ham United will welcome back defender Aaron Cresswell and midfielder Michail Antonio for Sunday's Premier League trip to Liverpool, but Cheikhou Kouyate will miss the game. All three players picked up groin injuries in West Ham's League Cup defeat by Manchester United on Nov. 30. "From the three players who got injured in the EFL Cup game, a couple of them should be back," manager Slaven Bilic told a news conference on Friday. "Antonio and Cresswell are training with us today after the press conference and according to the medical reports they are fit and they are okay. "With Cheikhou Kouyate, it is a little bit different. We were hoping he would be okay for Sunday's game, but unfortunately he will have to miss it. "It's not a big injury, but he has a great chance to make it for the Burnley game in midweek." West Ham are 17th in the table and have not won in the league since October, but the under pressure Bilic said he had spoken to the club's chairman David Sullivan and felt he still had the support of the club's hierarchy. "We didn't have a meeting, we had a conversation like we normally have," the manager added. "Since I've been here, I speak to the chairman a couple of days after every game. After Saturday's game we spoke on Monday and had a good conversation, but not a meeting. "I feel the support and have said that so many times and I felt that support in our conversation this week. I believe in myself and my staff and look at what we achieved last year and I believe there is time to turn it around." West Ham's last league outing ended in a 5-1 home defeat by Arsenal, and Bilic said his players had reacted well in training ahead of their trip to third-placed Liverpool. "We all felt bad last Saturday," he added. "We were one-down after 70 minutes so to lose 5-1 left us disappointed, frustrated and angry but you have to get over it, which we have done and we have a big game on Sunday. "I have told the players we have got to be positive and I've had a great reaction from them this week in training." (Reporting by Simon Jennings in Bengaluru; Editing by Toby Davis)