Marko Arnautovic finally feels fully fit after going two weeks without getting any reaction from the knee injury which has been troubling him virtually since the season opened.
Despite his injury issue Arnie has been playing virtually to his max which is amazing given that until the last fortnight he has been unable to complete a full week’s training.
Now, however, he is likely to be back to his very best after the knee injury responded to the medics advice in exactly the way they expected.
The striker had made it clear publicly that there was no treatment available for the bruised bone behind the knee other than to rest it as much as possible as they carried out a balanced programme which saw him resting but training sufficiently to maintain his fitness levels for match day.
Now, however, manager Manuel Pellegrini has revealed that the problem may well be behind him fully as the team approaches a seriously difficult game against Manchester City at the weekend.
The boss revealed: “He has had a difficult season in that sense. He has not been able to work a complete week from the beginning because of his knee. But in these two weeks he has had no problem.”
Asked about whether he had set any target for the Austrian – a 20 goals season for example – he said: “I don’t want to answer about things in the future. He is playing here and doing very well. There are different issues in different teams.
“I expect him to give his maximum performance in every game. He has a lot of power and scores goals. I expect him to do a complete season in the way he did for half a season last year.”