Marko Arnautovic has looked a completely different player for West Ham United lately.
There is no question that West Ham’s encouraging run of recent form is largely down to the transformation that Marko Arnautovic has enjoyed since David Moyes arrived at the club back in November.
The Austrian endured a largely miserable start to life at the London Stadium following his £25 million move (via Guardian), not scoring or providing an assist during his first 11 Premier League appearances for the Irons.
However, the 28-year-old has been the Hammers’ best player since Moyes arrived – and by quite some distance, it has to be said – scoring five goals in his last five league games, including the winner at Chelsea and a brace in the dramatic Boxing Day draw with Bournemouth.
In fact, Arnautovic’s form has been so impressive that since he opened his account for West Ham in the victory over the Blues at the London Stadium, Harry Kane is the only player in the Premier League to have scored more goals than he has, with two successive hat-tricks helping the Spurs man to eight strikes in his last five games and a host of records for the calendar year.
| Team | Goals | |
|---|---|---|
| Harry Kane | Tottenham | 8 |
| Marko Arnautovic | West Ham | 5 |
| Roberto Firmino | Liverpool | 4 |
| Raheem Sterling | Man City | 4 |
| Sergio Agüero | Man City | 3 |
Given the names in the top five, it is clear that Arnautovic deserves an enormous amount of praise, as, while the likes of Kane, Sergio Aguero and Roberto Firmino’s presence on the list would surprise few, not many at all would have expected the former Stoke man to be in that position.
And if he can sustain anything like his current goalscoring run until the end of the campaign, it would surely do West Ham’s chances of staying in the division the world of good.
The Irons kick off 2018 by hosting one of the division’s fellow strugglers, West Brom at the London Stadium.
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