West Ham manager Manuel Pellegrini has finally lifted the lid on the mystery surrounding Marko Arnautovic’s absence from the starting XI as he reveals the Austrian is set to return sooner rather than later.
The 29-year-old had been a mainstay in the side in the first half of the season but has not started a Premier League game for the Hammers since the end of January, with four substitute outings as Javier Hernandez is chosen ahead of him instead.
Now the manager has finally spoken out about why his talisman forward has been missing and delivered a boost for the Irons, insisting he is finally ready to start again.
He told Football.London: “Marko was out of the team for several reasons. First because his mind was not right when he had the option to go to China, then he returned but didn’t work for one week and needed time to recover.
“After that, he was sick, he was going to play against Manchester City but was ill, so there are lots of reasons why he is on the bench. But I think he is ready to return to his position.”
Opinion
There is little doubting that Arnautovic is the Hammers’ most effective forward and so it will have been worrying, not to mention frustrating, for the London Stadium faithful to see Hernandez and even Andy Carroll lining up ahead of him in recent games. Whether or not Pellegrini’s explanation will satisfy the supporters remains to be seen but at least there has been some reason given, as well as an update on his availability moving forward. If the Irons want to hit the heights they are capable of, then Arnautovic needs to not only be starting on a regular basis but hitting a rich vein of form. Without him they can appear a little one dimensional and results have reflected that, not least the defeat to Cardiff last weekend. Fans can expect him to be in the starting XI sooner rather than later and that will be a huge relief for the Irons, who have been desperately missing what he brings to the side.