Manuel Lanzini and Winston Reid in contention for Liverpool trip as Jose Fonte leaves West Ham

West Ham United could be boosted by the return of two key players for Saturday's (24 February) Premier League meeting against Liverpool, with Winston Reid back in the squad and Manuel Lanzini also vying for a role at Anfield.

Centre-back Reid has not featured since the FA Cup third-round draw against third-tier promotion chasers Shrewsbury Town on 7 January due to a groin strain. He was an unused substitute for the 3-1 defeat at Brighton and Hove Albion earlier this month but missed the subsequent win over Watford with a throat infection.

Attacking midfielder Lanzini, meanwhile, has been absent for the last four matches as the result of a hamstring injury suffered during the 1-1 draw with Bournemouth on 20 January.

West Ham will make a final decision on the Argentine's availability for Liverpool tomorrow, while Reid will definitely be involved on Merseyside having topped up his match fitness in a practice fixture last week.

"It's good news, we've got a lot of players back training, manager David Moyes was quoted as saying at his pre-match press conference by the Hammers' official website. "We're getting much closer to having a full squad.

"Obviously we are without the long-termers Andy Carroll, Pedro Obiang and Edi Fernandes, but in the main I think we're getting very close to getting the players back. Manu Lanzini could [return this weekend]. He has been training, so he's an important player for us, but he's not played any games, so it's one of those decisions we'll take tomorrow.

"I would be tempted to start him, but I'm certainly not going to give my team news out, but all I can tell you is that he's back, he's running around, he's training with us and hopefully that's him fit for the rest of the season. Winston Reid is back training and is back in the squad. We had a practice match at the training ground over a week ago and he got some minutes in that, so hopefully it did him some good."

Moyes also told reporters earlier today that defender Jose Fonte's departure was "very close" and West Ham have now confirmed his move to Chinese Super League outfit Dalian Yifang for an undisclosed fee reported by the BBC to be around £5m ($6.9m).

"Well I think Jose wanted to take it, he's 34 years old and he felt that it was the right thing for his career at this time, gave him the chance to try something new, he wants to get in the Portuguese national team for the World Cup and felt if he was playing regularly it would give him a better chance," Moyes said when asked if it had been a difficult decision to allow Fonte to depart, per football.london.

"He's just back from injury and in a condition to play so we wish him good luck and he's been a great professional since I've been here."