Never a dull moment when concerned with West Ham and the team’s strikers, is there? Up next is Tottenham and the possibility of neither Chicharito or Marco Arnautovic starting up top for the Hammers. Is it time to start Lucas Perez at striker?
There are two main reasons for starting Perez over the other striker options, and they’re polar opposites.
He’s in form!
Lucas Perez, West Ham’s most in-form striker. This is not a mistake. Marko Arnautovic got the lion’s share of game time against Leicester and didn’t generate much of anything on Casper Schmeichel. Instead of looking for second opportunities and applying pressure on the back line, Arnautovic decided to throw his hands up every time a ball bounced away from him.
Chicharito, who is currently the background on my phone, really does know how to piss off a fanbase, doesn’t he? I swear when the man plays he looks up for it and like he wants to make an impact. Off the pitch, he sends cryptic messages about haters finding out the truth and is skipping games with earaches. As Dave Walker from The West Ham Way Podcast so aptly put it, “I couldn’t even get out of school for an earache!”
Perez, a man left out and picked last in recent times has been nothing but professional on the pitch. He scored a poachers goal on a well-timed run and was robbed of his second after cutting through the same defenders that stymied Arnautovic. Why not play him? We may end up liking what we see.
Increase that sell-on value
The other reason to play Perez against Tottenham and perhaps beyond is that there is a great possibility West Ham can up his value with strong performances. Mark Noble stated that Perez is the best finisher at the club when interviewed post-training. He’s been at clubs like Arsenal and created insane amounts of offensive pressure in La Liga, so the pedigree is there to suggest he is a talented player.
Sitting on the bench at West Ham is going to do nothing other than slash his value at an exponential rate. He’s scored three goals for the Hammers in the Premier League this season, sitting him tied with Noble for 5th in team scoring.
More time should equal more goals for Perez and West Ham are only going to benefit from him getting more game time whether it is monetarily or by discovering a player who can help the 2019/20 season without taking up any of the limited transfer budget funds.