West Ham team news: Marko Arnautovic to miss Crystal Palace match and much of Christmas period

The Austria international will miss most of the Christmas period, although the club are hopeful he will return for the FA Cup third round tie against Birmingham in January

Friday 07 December 2018 08:00 EST
Comments
West Ham 2018/19 Premier League profile

Your support helps us to tell the story

From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.

At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.

The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.

Your support makes all the difference.

West Ham will be without Marko Arnautovic when they host Crystal Palace after the forward was ruled out for a month with a thigh injury.

The Austria international will miss most of the Christmas period, although the club are hopeful he will return for the FA Cup third round tie against Birmingham in January.

“We know how important Marko is for our team,” said West Ham boss Manuel Pellegrini.

“We have too many players injured in a month that we have to play seven games and then in January, six more games.

“But I always have the same answer - we have a squad and it is a chance for another player to demonstrate why they are here.”

Arnautovic joins Jack Wilshere, Andriy Yarmolenko, Ryan Fredericks, Carlos Sanchez, Aaron Cresswell, Winston Reid and Manuel Lanzini on a lengthy casualty list.

But defenders Pablo Zabaleta and Fabian Balbuena are available after missing the midweek win over Cardiff.

Provisional squad: Fabianski, Adrian, Zabaleta, Balbuena, Diop, Ogbonna, Masuaku, Rice, Obiang, Noble, Diangana, Snodgrass, Anderson, Antonio, Hernandez, Carroll, Perez, Silva.

Join our commenting forum

Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies

Comments

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in