In a game many people were suggesting he should be rested, Marko Arnautovic started and picked up a relatively serious injury against Cardiff City. While losing him is a massive negative, the recent play of West Ham’s secondary strikers provides hope in his absence.
Just forty minutes into a game where he was better suited as an unused sub, Marko Arnautovic picked up a hamstring injury and was forced out of the match. He walked off under his own power and stayed on the bench for the extent of the match but a post-game assessment would reveal that he would miss the rest of 2018, extending into the new year.
This was corroborated on Arnautovic’s Instagram story where he addressed the injury writing:
"“Thank you so much for all your messages I will be out for a while bit I will do everything to come back strong and quick”"
followed by,
“lets go I will do everything to be back for my team” tagging @WestHam and showing his leg in a therapeutic wrap, adorned in hammer emojis.
The injury sucks but there are a few silver linings to the situation. The first is that his knee wasn’t injured on the play that took him out of the Cardiff game. With a hamstring keeping him likely on rest for a while, Arnautovic will have to ignore his desire to be on the pitch constantly and rest his ailing joint, too.
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The knee injury was becoming a legitimate concern for West Ham for two reasons: a bigger injury was inevitable and if a team was looking to buy him in January he would be unable to pass a physical. With the latter issue now making a January transfer near impossible, the only concern that remains is the impending injury that a semi-hurting knee can lead to, but for now, he’s resting which is ideal.
The second silver lining to the unfortunate injury to Arnautovic is how well Chicharito and Lucas Perez have gotten on since in the past two games. Sure, the games were against Newcastle and Cardiff, but both teams were on their best form of the season and West Ham ended up bossing both matches.
Chicharito was not a real surprise to score in a dual-striker system but Perez was. Perez seems to have been a name that carries more weight than justified, but as his goals show against Cardiff if he’s given a chance he’ll bury it. His ability to get into dangerous areas and lose his coverage is extremely important and will be needed as December continues on.
It’s never a positive to lose a player to injury but losing someone who has been so instrumental to any West Ham success as Arnautovic has been is devastating. This period of time will test West Ham’s squad strength and depth and should be a good measuring stick against the other teams vying for top-half placement by Christmas time. Get well soon, Arnie! We’ll miss you!