Marko Arnautovic pulled out of the West Ham starting lineup very late due to a mystery illness.
The Austrian was due to start against Manchester City and was named in the side but was replaced hours before kickoff with Andy Carroll. Club insiders have denied a strop or fall out with the manager insisting it was a genuine late sickness causing him to be removed from the match-day squad at late notice.
Aaron Cresswell was another absentee after suffering from a broken toe while Arthur Masuaku is also suffering from an unknown injury. With Pablo Zabaleta still recovering from a back injury and not able to play 90 minutes Pellegrini took the risk of giving young right back Ben Johnson his senior debut at left back at the Etihad.
Perhaps more telling is the continued absence of Lucas Perez from the matchday squad having recently trained with the under 23’s he appears to remain out of favor with Pellegrini.