West Ham have suffered a potentially shattering injury blow with fears that Marko Arnautovic could be out of action until the middle of March with a broken foot, according to the Sun.
The newspaper claim on their website that after the Austrian hobbled off in their 3-0 defeat to Wolves and left Molineux on crutches, the club suspect he has suffered a break which would leave him sidelined for six weeks.
Arnautovic has been at the centre of much speculation this month after rumours linked him with a move to China but there was a u-turn pulled as he not only verbally committed to the Irons but put pen to paper on a new deal in east London.
There will be plenty of jokes from those outside the London Stadium about how the Irons should have cashed in on the striker’s sale this month but the truth of the matter is this is a woeful struck of poor fortune.
They were absolutely right to do all they could to keep hold of Arnautovic – after all, he is their top scorer and one of the most feared forwards in the Premier League on his day.
Having him missing until March would be a complete disaster and with little time to secure a new recruit before deadline day, it looks as though the likes of Javier Hernandez, Lucas Perez and Andy Carroll will be tasked with leading the line.
That is not the sort of strike force that will fill the Hammers faithful with any sort of confidence and it is a real worry as to where the goals are going to come from.
The club’s form of late has been nothing short of appalling, especially with their FA Cup defeat to Wimbledon, and something needs to kick them into gear. This is the exact opposite of that and heads will have dropped even further than before.