West Ham United attacker Marko Arnautovic has a 25 per cent chance of being fit for the team’s clash with Liverpool on Monday night, according to Claret & Hugh.
The reliable Hammers news site claims that that Arnautovic’s odds of facing the Reds are slim, after he picked up a knock against Wolverhampton Wanderers on Tuesday.
The Austrian has been receiving treatment for a bruised foot, however, it is thought that West ham’s medical staff can do no more than they have already done.
Arnautovic is expected to be 100% fit for the team’s trip to Crystal Palace next Saturday.
OPINION
This is the news that West Ham fans will have been fearing since Tuesday’s game, although Arnautovic’s lacklustre performance in that outing may ease their frustrations. The 29-year-old picked up a heavy knock in the Wolves match and so it was always doubtful that he’d be fit enough to take on Liverpool. 25% is a chance, to be sure, just not a very good one. With odds like that it would be a major surprise to see the former Stoke City man feature on Monday. However, given that the Liverpool game is essentially a free hit against the division’s top team, it’s not the worst encounter for Arnautovic to miss. He will likely be much more use to the Hammers against Palace than he would be at 25% against Liverpool. It would have been interesting to see if he could unsettle Virgil van Dijk and co., but unfortunately it doesn’t look like that’s going to happen now.