West Ham United manager Sam Allardyce has claimed that the club have not set a date on striker Andy Carroll's return to action.

The former Liverpool forward has been hit with a fresh heel injury, which some reports have suggested could keep the 24-year-old on the sidelines for the rest of the season.

However, Allardyce has revealed that the forward is undergoing a recovery programme and monitoring his fitness on a week-by-week basis.

"Andy's fine, he's recovering well now," Allardyce said in a press conference. "We've got a programme set out for his recovery, I think that that's going to be not as long as the last time.

"We're going to progress it week-by-week rather than saying it's going to be this amount of time or that. For me, it's a week-by-week assessment and guided by the specialists who are in charge."

Carroll signed a permanent six-year deal with the Hammers, who paid Liverpool a reported £15m fee for his services.