Sky Sports pundit Stephen Warnock has tipped West Ham fringe figure Lucas Perez to make a resurgence in the first team after coming off the bench to score a brace against Cardiff City on Tuesday night.
The Spanish summer signing has been a rare sighting for the Hammers this season, making six substitute appearances of no more than 27 minutes in the Premier League, with his goals against the Bluebirds his first league strikes of the campaign.
He replaced the injured Marko Arnautovic at the London Stadium and Warnock believes this is his opportunity to shine in the Austrian’s absence.
Asked if this was the 30-year-old’s chance for a resurgence, he told Sky Sports News (05/12, 10:22): “It has to be the time where he can get a run of game time, show what he can do.
“It’ll have been a very, very frustrating time for him for him leading up to this period and he’ll have been thinking he just wants to get onto the pitch and show what he can do.
“He has been limited in his game time but no better way to answer the critics than to come up and score two goals off the bench.”
Opinion
Losing Arnautovic is a huge blow to Manuel Pellegrini, regardless of how Perez might have performed against Cardiff. However, his brace will bring him some much needed confidence, much like how Javier Hernandez looked back to his best by netting twice against Newcastle over the weekend. There has been a little battle brewing beneath the first team for who acts as Arnautovic’s first choice replacement and the goals being scored up top at the London Stadium means it is showing no signs of slowing down. With Andy Carroll back on the scene, Pellegrini has three hitmen to pick from and it will be a tough decision after their recent fine performances. One thing is for sure though – the Hammers will be desperately hoping that their Austrian talisman can make a swift recovery, for placing their hopes up front in the hands of Hernandez, Perez or Carroll is hardly going to fill the fans, or the rest of the squad, with confidence, regardless of their recent goals.