An elite attack starting to click? Grading West Ham’s Attackers

Strikers

Marko Arnautovic: 8/10

Previous: 6/10

He’s one of the most clinical finishers and feared physical strikers in the Premier League, and he hasn’t even been a striker for a whole calendar year! It would be a lie to say West Ham weren’t completely dependant on Marko Arnautovic to orchestrate their attack and for that reason, the main man in claret and blue gets that jump from 6 to 8/10

With a nagging knee injury in tow, Arnautovic has still managed to be the focal point of West Ham’s attack. He missed the Chelsea match with the injury and as a result, West Ham looked a little toothless in attack, despite Anderson and Yarmolenko’s best efforts. Regardless of injury, Arnautovic sits in a tie for third in league scoring with four goals proving his effectiveness.

He has wingers (hallelujah) who are providing offense with him and supporting the ball up top to create longer spells of possession and more dangerous probing attacks. This is something Arnautovic hasn’t had but is clearly embracing. He appears to love Yarmolenko and dedicated his most recent goal against Manchester United to injured West Ham player Carlos Sanchez by running to the bench and holding up Sanchez’s shirt.

Everyone said Arnie was lazy and had a bad attitude but it seems like he was just miscast on Stoke City and wasn’t allowed to flourish the way he is at West Ham. He has picked up an international goal with Austria and has returned without any injuries so West Ham’s main man is still deserving of his high grade.

Stats:

Games: 7
Goals: 4
Assists: 1
Passes: 168 (24 avg. per match)
Big chances created: 1
Crosses: 3
Shots: 21 (8 on target)
Big chances missed: 1

The rest of the crew…

Lucas Perez: 3/10 (previous: 3/10)

Perez has essentially just become West Ham’s Swiss-Army knife who can play across the front three forward positions. Now play and succeed are two different things. Perez is basically a time waster at the end of matches, coming in to prevent injury to the forwards in games where the points are all but secured. As a result, Perez sees little time to make an impact despite his frequent usage simply because he is replacing the fire-starters on offense.

What he has going for him is that he is fit and is a better option over Chicharito and Antonio at this time for striker. He scored a nice volley against Macclesfield Town in the 8-0 win so that’s a positive, but at the Premier League level, he hasn’t contributed much of anything.

Chicharito: Unranked

I suppose it’s not his fault that he got sick and has missed a month of action, but even when he’s been fit he hasn’t done much to challenge for any minutes from Arnautovic, Perez, or Antonio. The bar was so low for Hernandez to be a success at West Ham and he still hasn’t reached that. He did score in a 3-1 loss to QPR that was held behind closed doors during this break, but I’m not sure how much this really counts for in the long run.

Blame it on the revolving door of managers, blame it on injury, blame it on World Cup hangover from his time with Mexico, but I tend to think Chicharito is just a player who doesn’t have what it takes to be a success in the Premier League without tremendous help. Don’t be surprised if he departs in January.

I’d like him to succeed, but if there is more value he can add by leaving than staying, it’s goodbye for Little Pea.