West Ham United captain Mark Noble is not happy with critics of Andy Carroll.

The Hammers striker has been struggling with injuries all season. He has only managed a single goal all campaign, while he is out till the new season with an ankle issue.

But Noble does not believe fans are right to criticise Carroll for being unable to stay fit.

He wrote about Carroll in a column for the Evening Standard and said: "There's always the risk of injury when you play professional sport — Harry Kane against Manchester City the other night is a prime example.

"At one stage this season we had nine players unavailable and even though most of those are back, players such as Andriy Yarmolenko, Carlos Sanchez and Winston Reid are still out while Jack Wilshere is just coming back.

"I count myself fortunate not to have missed too many matches but one West Ham team-mate who has been plagued by injuries is Andy Carroll.

"It's a real difficult one for me because it's so hard to see a player who, every day, wants to train, to play and do his best, for the club and himself, but who has been stopped from doing that by a succession of injuries.

"I saw Andy when he first came, initially on loan from Liverpool in 2012 and then permanently the following season, and I can remember the huge impact he made.

"The thing about Andy is that when he plays, he gives it 100 per cent but, if he is not fully fit, he can put himself in danger. It's horrible when I see some of the comments about him.

"It's not his fault he is injured. He's such a big lad and his body just hasn't allowed him to cope with the demands of playing regularly and that has severely limited his playing time.

"The thing in football is that you are always expected to be macho man — "I'm, all right, there's no problem", that sort of thing."