West Ham’s Marko Arnautovic is not as badly injured as first feared with bruising and swelling to the foot but no break, according to reliable journalist Sam Inkersole.
The Football.London reporter, who has built up a track record of being one of the most reputable writers covering the Irons, claims on his personal Twitter account that he has heard that the injury blow suffered against Wolves is less severe than first though, with the Sun claiming he had picked up a broken foot in the 3-0 defeat.
Am told Marko Arnautovic’s foot injury isn’t as bad as initially feared. Heavy bruising and swelling to his right foot but nothing broken. #WHUFC
— Sam Inkersole (@Sam_InkersoleTM) January 30, 2019
Arnautovic has been the centre of attentions in east London this month, with speculation over his future leading to a new contract being penned last week.
Opinion
Right on cue, everyone at the London Stadium lets out what might be the biggest sigh of relief ever recorded in the capital. There is no over exaggerating just how important the Austrian talisman is to the Hammers’ hopes this season and to see him ruled out for any significant period of time would have been the worst case scenario. To hear he is less severely injured than first thought will have the fans bouncing around their living rooms/offices/place of work – although they will soon realise that it still means he is going to be missing from the starting XI. The only time when any judgement on how big an impact this is going to be for the Irons is when Manuel Pellegrini, or maybe the club themselves, issue an official statement. Until then it is all speculation and with the injury having only been picked up on Tuesday evening, it is likely that even the doctors and medical staff are not yet clear on how long his recovery process will take.