Carroll suffered the injury in the Hammers' 3-0 home win over Fulham on Saturday, being forced to leave the pitch with 20 minutes left.

But in his time on the field, the striker, who joined the London club on loan from Liverpool before the transfer deadline, had impressed new manager Sam Allardyce, who feared the worst after the match.

"He's not good I'm afraid. It looks like a hamstring (for Andy Carroll) which is obviously the most disappointing thing for today," Allardyce told reporters.

"Also, we had Carlton Cole ready to come on, if it had been another two minutes Andy (Carroll) would have been off anyway based on the fact that he would have been tiring and because of where his fitness is at.

"He hasn't played as many games as he would have wanted since he came back from holiday and the European Championships.

"So we were ready to bring him off and unfortunately on that last jump he got hit by (Brede) Hangeland and twisted his body and it's pulled his hamstring.

"I think almost definitely he'll be out of the England squad. We just have to pray that it's not too severe."

Carroll had been named in the England squad for the World Cup qualifiers against Moldova in Chisinau on Friday and against Ukraine at Wembley on September 11.

Fulham manager Martin Jol issued a thinly veiled swipe at the direct tactics employed by West Ham, with the powerful Carroll a major threat before his withdrawal.

"When you analyse teams like Manchester United and Chelsea it's difficult but with West Ham it's easy," Jol said.

"You know they will play that long ball and look for the knockdowns.

"If you're 5ft 8in or 5ft 10in you've maybe got a problem, but I thought we should have coped with him (Carroll). We couldn't cope with him and that's disappointing."