West Ham manager Manuel Pellegrini explained why former Arsenal forward Lucas Perez was left annoyed on West Ham’s bench after he was snubbed to replace Marko Arnautovic.
The summer signing was due to come on for Arnautovic when the Austrian was injured towards the end of West Ham’s win at Everton, but was eventually overlooked for Michail Antonio. He was then pictured deep in conversation with goalkeeping coach Xavi Valero and appeared irritated by the decision to leave him as an unused substitute, but Pellegrini explained his decision to Sky Sports after the game.
He said: “When Marko was injured, I called Lucas because he was doing a warm-up, and when I saw he was sat on the bench and Antonio was working and ready, that’s why I brought him on instead, rather than waiting for Lucas to warm up again. Antonio was ready, and Lucas had to warm up a little bit more.”
It was a perfect 65th birthday for the Chilean manager as West Ham not only picked up their first win, and points, of the season, but also moved up off the bottom of the Premier League to 16th with victory.
