West Ham United manager Manuel Pellegrini has confirmed that Marko Arnautovic has trained and will be okay to feature this weekend against Tottenham Hotspur.
The 29-year-old only appeared in one of Austria’s two fixtures during the international break, scoring the winner against Northern Ireland last week.
The forward however has trained upon his return to the Irons, according to Pellegrini, and although the club will carefully manage Arnautovic, he is likely to be okay for Saturday’s Premier League game.
“Marko is okay,” Pellegrini said in Thursday’s press conference. “He worked when he returned from his national squad, where he played just one game for Austria.
Marko is okay. He has worked with our squad without any problems. We must be careful with his knee, but it allows for him to play in games.
Manuel Pellegrini
“He has worked with our squad without any problems. We must be careful with his knee, but it allows for him to play in games.”
The Chilean also indicated that his team had suffered no further problems during the international break.
He continued: “I think, for all clubs, it is a similar thing to have important players out of the squad for ten days or so. But the rest of the group has worked very well.
“Yarmolenko arrived today and he was the last that was away, so normally there are not any problems.”
Arthur Masuaku made his debut for DR Congo during the international break, and Pellegrini has hailed the options he has available at left-back.
With the 24-year-old battling Aaron Cresswell for the starting berth in the West Ham team, the manager is happy to have the selection headache.
Pellegrini added: “Arthur Masuaku was with his national squad this week. He has returned and he has worked with the squad. We will see if he starts on Saturday.
“When I was here with Manchester City I saw Aaron Cresswell was a very good player. Arthur might be more of an attacking player but he has improved a lot in defending. We have that position covered really well in our team.”