David Moyes offers insight into Kurt Zouma mindset with West Ham return expected

Kurt Zouma is set to return for West Ham against Newcastle as it emerged David Moyes is urging the defender to 'move on' from his cat-slapping shame.

The Hammers boss has continued to pick Zouma despite a significant backlash following the emergence of a video of him kicking and slapping his cat.

Zouma started the game immediately after the club came to light against Watford and had been named in the starting line-up to face Leicester City last week.

However, the 27-year-old defender reported feeling ill in the warm-up and was replaced by Issa Diop as the Hammers drew 2-2 at the King Power Stadium.

Moyes has revealed the under-fire centre-half is now "better" as he urged him to "move on" from the incident which has cast a cloud over West Ham's season.

"He’s better, but it’s taken him a couple of days to get over it – he had quite bad sickness and illness, but he’s trained the last couple of days, so I’m hoping that he’ll be available," the Scotsman said.

Asked how the player was coping mentally, Moyes added: "I think he’s probably really disappointed about what he’s done and he’s thinking about it a lot, no doubt, but overall we have tried to get him to move on.

"We want him to concentrate on his training. He played very well for us against Watford the other week there, so we’re hoping that we can keep him at those levels of performance, we’ll be pleased with that.

How well do you think West Ham have handled the Kurt Zouma situation? Let us know in the comments section.

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"He’s really well-liked here amongst the supporters, the performances he’s put in throughout the season already, so hopefully he can focus on his football and we’ll give him as much support as we can until we get him right back to his best."

Zouma's cats were taken away by the RSPCA after a video emerged of him hitting, dropping, and kicking his pet.

The star released an apology and has been fined £250,000 for his actions, while his boot sponsor Adidas have dropped the ex-Chelsea man as a client.

Moyes added" "We have been clear and concise. There is an investigation going on at the moment but I am not an expert on that. I do not think we have been misleading at all."

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