Hammers sweat it out on Cressie and Marko

Manuel Pellegrini’s man management techniques will have been tested to the limits over the past few days as he has  worked to again bed down Mark Arnautovic  into the squad.

He may have a little longer with the player being given only an outside chance of  making it into the match at the London Stadium tomorrow evening.

One source told CandH: “Marko is a law unto himself in these issues and makes his own decisions on whether he is fit enough to make it.

Maybe it’s time for that to be brought to an end!

The reality is nothing was broken at Wolves and he will have had nearly a month to recover from the bruising on his foot.”

Should he be absent the options are limited with neither Carroll, Chicharito or Lucas Perez in the sort of form required to lead an attack.

And that may mean shoving Michail Antonio through the middle where his hustle and bustle looks a better bet perhaps than the alternatives.

A decision won’t be taken on Aaron Cresswell until just before kick off and that may be an even bigger issue than who gets the nod with Arthur Masuaku the replacement!

With no Samir Nasri available we look stripped of creative quality although given our previous outings against top sides don’t rule us out.

I’m going for an optimistic 1-1 draw and this looks the likeliest team as things stand: Zabaleta, Zaba, Diop, Ogbonna, Cresswell; Rice, Noble, Snodgrass, Anderson, Chicharito, Antonio.