Newcastle United legend Alan Shearer was left drooling over the performance of Marko Arnatuvovic after the forward played a crucial role in West Ham’s first win of the Premier League season on Sunday.
The Austria international scored and supplied an assist for the Hammers as they beat Everton 3-1 at Goodison Park.
Arnautovic was forced off the pitch just after the hour mark with a knee injury, but Shearer has been full of praise of the ex-Stoke attacker for his authoritative display.
“A real centre-forward’s performance. He scored a very good goal and provided an assist when his team needed it most. Led the line with such authority,” said Shearer on the Premier League website.
OPINION
Arnautovic was brilliant against Everton and has already staked a solid claim to be West Ham’s player of the season this term. He has scored three goals in his first five Premier League games – even though Manuel Pellegrini’s men have managed to avoid defeat in just one of them. If the former Inter Milan ace can perform like that when West Ham are not at their best, then he is going to be frightening to come up against once all of the summer signings have settled in and are on the same wavelength. Shearer knows all to well what it takes to be a top centre-forward in the Premier League. While Arnautovic hasn’t been considered as and out-and-out striker for most of his career, he certainly looked as though he has been on Sunday. Could he reach 20 goals this season? Judging by his form so far he is going to be up there with the top strikers in England come the end of the campaign.