Manuel Pellegrini has hailed injury-prone target man Andy Carroll as a vital component to the future success of West Ham, after the forward scored his first goal since April 2018 against Birmingham in the FA Cup at the weekend.
In his first appearance of the season, following an ankle injury suffered during pre-season, Carroll doubled the Hammers’ advantage at the London Stadium with a trademark headed finish in added time to secure his side’s passage into the next round of the competition where they will take on London rivals and League One strugglers AFC Wimbledon.
Following the match, Pellegrini told the club’s official website that Carroll’s ability to influence the game aerially in both the attacking and defensive phases of the game could lead to increased minutes on the pitch should he remain fit.
We are very happy with how Andy played. If you review his game, he scored, his play was good and he missed another chance to score, he cleared two or three aerial duels in our box, so in the way he plays, he will return to be the player we know he can be.
I never had any doubt Andy Carroll wants to stay here. He is happy here, he wants to play for the Club, he is happy in London and he doesn’t want to go anywhere. He wants to play like every player but he must be patient. When you come back from a long injury and you are not competing weekly, you have to be careful not to get another injury.
That’s why we are giving him some amount of minutes every game. I think if he recovers his shape and continues working every day of the week without any injuries there are not too many players with his quality.
Carroll has the chance to build on an encouraging performance with the visit of Unai Emery’s defensibly fragile Arsenal side, a team against whom the 30-year-old striker previously scored a superb hat-trick in a frantic 3-3 draw at Upton Park in April 2016.
Ex-Gunners midfielder Samir Nasri, who joined West Ham on a free transfer last week, will also be looking for minutes against his former employers following an impressive debut performance at the weekend.
