West Ham United drew at Brighton and Hove Albion on Saturday.
West Ham United boss Manuel Pellegrini has told Football.London that he thinks Jack Wilshere will be improving as he returns to action.
The Hammers travelled down to the South Coast on Saturday afternoon, taking on Brighton and Hove Albion at the Amex Stadium.
Javier Hernandez opened the scoring for the Hammers from Manuel Lanzini’s pass, only for Leandro Trossard to equalise – having had a first half goal ruled out by VAR.
West Ham will be pleased to have picked up their first point of the season having been hammered by Manchester City last weekend, and at least won’t copy last season’s opening of four defeats in a row.
The game also saw Jack Wilshere start for the second week in a row, but he was hooked at half time as Pellegrini substituted him in favour of Michail Antonio.
After a decent pre-season, Wilshere hasn’t quite hit those heights in the first two games of the season, and his early substitution will be a concern.
The 27-year-old endured another injury-hit campaign last season, so is working his way back to fitness, and Pellegrini believes ‘he will be improving’, but needs time.
Wilshere – who earns £100,000-a-week according to The Sun – hasn’t been value for money so far, and Hammers fans may be concerned that he won’t get back to his best despite Pellegrini’s confidence.
“Jack is like Carlos Sanchez, [Andriy] Yarmolenko and Manuel Lanzini – who played a lot of games in the last part of last season – he needs time of course,” said Pellegrini. “He hasn’t played 90 minutes in a long time, so in every game and every minute he has he will be improving,” he added.
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