Hammers need big Andy to pep up Pell’s attacking options

ANDY CARROLL will play in a behind-closed-doors friendly this week as Hammers boss Manuel Pellegrini searches for killer instinct in front of goal.

All that was missing when West Ham called up the cavalry to recover from an early Alex Pritchard strike was a player with the assassin’s touch.

Javier Hernandez and Michail Antonio were released from the substitutes bench to complement Marko Arnautovic (right) and Felipe Anderson and at least they left with a point courtesy of Anderson’s drilled close-range finish.

The spoils could have been greater as Pellegrini stuck to his attacking principles only to see opportunities come and go.

Oh then for a fit and fully firing Carroll, who on his day can create mayhem in opposition boxes.

Sadly, those moments have been far too fleeting following a succession of injuries. The bustling Geordie has yet to appear in a competitive game under Pellegrini and has only made six Premier League appearances in

2018.

That, hopes Pellegrini, is about to change. Instead of joining many of his fellow Premier League managers on a break due to the international games he will be an interested spectator on Thursday when Carroll plays in a private friendly against Brentford.

“Andy is close to coming back. He has started working with the squad a little but not 100 per cent,” said Pellegrini. “He will work again this week and on Thursday we are going to play a friendly game and we hope that Carroll can play some minutes. “I will be watching the game. There will be no holiday. Maybe the following week Jack Wilshere will be working with the first team squad.”

The former Arsenal man has been out for almost two months after ankle surgery.

That will be another boost for Pellegrini, who insists that his buccaneering brand of football can produce the results to propel the Hammers into the top half of the table.

He admits there were a few doubters after the first four games in which they found themselves pointless and rock bottom. “I prefer to have creative players. I like a passing team,” he said.

“Maybe at the beginning it wasn’t so easy for people to trust in what you are doing, especially if they are not used to playing this way. I think here we are improving a lot. In our worst moment with no points in our first four games we were definitely looking up the table!

“But I’m sure that this team at the end of the season will be in a position better than we are at this moment.

“We will try and maintain a winning mentality to get as high up the table as we can.”

Robert Snodgrass believes there is a new-found spirit under former Manchester City boss Pellegrini.

He insisted: “Against Huddersfield after going a goal down we showed the spirit that maybe hasn’t been there in the last few years. It’s easy for heads to drop and in hard times you need characters in the side.

“There is now a belief that we can win games whatever the circumstances.”

A fit Carroll would also help.