Masuaku absence explained

Hammers insiders have cleared up the reasons for Arthur Masuaku’s absence from the squad on Saturday.

The left back was suffering from no injury problems but was simply left out of the match day set of players in favour of extra midfielders with Pablo Fornals, Robert Snodgrass and Jack Wilshere all available..

And that makes the defeat harder to accept given that we are so well off in that area of the park but in the end failed  to make the impact manager Manuel Pellegrini obviously expects as a result of his imports.

We were told by a source before the game that the DR Congo defender was absolutely fine but that such was the strength of the squad this was a scenario which would probably happen regularly this season.

He said: “Arthur is a victim of the squad strength on this occasion but others will be feeling the pressure over the course of the season.“