Marko Arnautovic will be scanned later today to see the extent of what appears to be a hamstring injury and which saw him leave the field against Cardiff City last night.
However, the early signs appear to be that he will definitely miss games although at this stage there is no indication of how many that could be as the Hammers head into the Christmas programme.
ClaretandHugh‘s senior source – revealing that a scan was planned – told us by phone: “It looks certain he will miss games – it’s just a case of how many but obviously we aren’t going to know that until later on.”
Ironically, it was the Austrian’s substitution last night which provided the spark for a Hammers victory with his replacement Lucas Perez grabbing two goals with Michail Antonio getting the other.
In fact it was a bad night all round for Arnie who gave away a penalty before having to leave the action.
I was concerned earlier inthe season that we were becoming too dependent on him, so the recent goals from other sources are to be welcomed. At his best he is a tremendous player, but he is obviously not immune to the Hammers injury jinx so we need to be able to score & win without him. Not sure that Hernandez & Perez can score regularly. Carroll could- but is he now fit enough? I guess we are going to get answers over the next month. Seems unlikely, but if all four of them could chip in regularly when they are fit then we would have quite an array of attackers at last…..who woke me up from that lovely dream….
We were becoming very “ Arnie “ dependent and it can only be down to Pelligrini’s continued influence on the squad that we can bring players off the bench and maintain the rhythm that is slowly but surely emerging . Of course we will miss Arnie over this very hectic Festive period , which team wouldn’t , but if the squad can carry on giving top performances we could have a very Happy Christmas and right Merry New Year . I , just as every other fan was dreading a repeat of the team blowing hot & cold , but for the first time in what seems an age we strung two good games together . It’ll be a very pleasant surprise if we can make it three against Palace on Saturday . Hope Chelsea beat Wolves tonight ., or at least draw .
COYHAMMERS
Anautovich ruled out untill 2019 !!! No surprises there ; this is the West Ham we are accustomed to . Biggest continued injury conveyour belt in the history of football . Definitely something wrong with our training methods and recovery process . Why other Clubs don’t
Suffer the same huge injury list every season is a mystery to me . Is it because the Fans are so demanding ? , maybe ! , or is it because they are trying too hard to succeed in order to satisfy the fans with there’r yearning for something special ? .
Wilsire , Carroll , Antonio , to name a few are / have spent more time on the treatment table than I have spent in the Dentist Chair ( all teeth gone now , all 67 yrs of them ) .
Need to take care my Dentures don’t fly out when I cheer a goal .
But seriously , why do we suffer so many injuries?? .
Next up ; Anderson ! ? .
But I digress ; apart from the horrendous injury list we are performing well it must be said .
We are not a huge big Club and success is hard to find . But under Pelligrini we are starting to find our feet . Only taken over 50yrs but Here We Come .
COYHAMMERS
So where do you get “Anautovich ruled out untill 2019 !!!” from Kevin? Nothing on the official site, or is it just a guess? He is having a scan today, then we will know the Full facts!
2019 is only three weeks away. It would be pretty surprising if a hamstring injury took less than that. Especially a West Ham hamstring! As Kevin suggests, Injuries r Us.