The West Ham United defender has been dropped from the match-day squad for their last three matches.
West Ham United’s 5-1 hammering at the hands of Arsenal at the start of December may, in hindsight, have been a turning point in their season.
After all, since that embarrassing defeat West Ham are undefeated in three matches, drawing with high-flying Liverpool and picking up back-to-back 1-0 victories against Burnley and Hull City.
There is still a lot of work for Hammers manager Slaven Bilic and his players to do in the months ahead, but things certainly seem to be looking up at the London Stadium.
Not so for Arthur Masuaku though, who has not featured in the last three match-day squads and who appears to have been cast aside following his role in West Ham’s heavy loss to their London rivals.
The return of Aaron Cresswell has obviously been a major factor, yet it is still surprising that Masuaku – who has looked decent more often than not – has not even made the bench and looks to have fallen out of favour heading into 2017.
If Cresswell is ruled out again, Masuaku may need to return. However he does seem to have been unfairly judged after a couple of dodgy outings against Arsenal and West Bromwich Albion earlier in the campaign.
More often than not he has done well when called upon and one hopes he does not fall further down the pecking order so soon into his West Ham career.
After all, some of the best players around have had shockers in their early days at a new club.
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