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West Ham United will look to bounce back from their disappointing performance and result against Everton last time out when they face Chelsea at Stamford Bridge on Monday night.
The east London outfit’s hopes of securing a seventh-place finish this season suffered a big blow as they were beaten 2-0 by the Toffees on their own patch, leaving them five points adrift of a spot which could still yield European football next term.
Irons manager Manuel Pellegrini spoke to the press on Friday prior to his team’s trip across the capital, and these are the two most important things he said.
Marko Arnautovic’s form
The Austria international was booed off by sections of the London Stadium crowd when he was taken off against Everton, and no goals and one assist in his previous eight Premier League appearances tells you all you need to know about his current situation.
Pellegrini said: “I don’t think anybody can be happy. The fans are not happy, me, Marko is not happy but this happens to some players in a moment of the season when they are not in their best moment. Maybe they need the support more than to punish them.
“Talking with Marko, he wants to do things better. He is absolutely involved with our team, what happened in December with China is now over and finished.
“If anyone thinks that Marko doesn’t want to be here at West Ham, they are wrong. Marko is absolutely involved mentally and physically.”
West Ham fans should certainly be interested to hear their manager’s update on a player who has clearly gone down in many of their estimations, considering he has been their biggest goal threat over the course of the past 18 months or so.
Good season?
Considering the likes of Manuel Lanzini, Winston Reid, Andriy Yarmonlenko, Carlos Sanchez and Jack Wilshere have been missing for big chunks of the campaign, Pellegrini actually believes the 11th-placed Hammers have enjoyed a decent season in the circumstances.
The former Manchester City boss said: “Our mentality must always be to aim for more. With so many injured players this season – and long injuries too – I don’t think we’ve had a bad season but we must try to improve it over the last six games.”
While the injury factor has clearly been a big one with some of the players missing ones who would be on the team-sheet every week, it still doesn’t excuse some of the below-par performances that have been seen from those who have filled in.
They have been more than good enough to get results that West Ham simply haven’t got, and that must be a worry ahead of the summer.
