OPINION
Javier Hernandez has endured a frustrating time at West Ham since his £16million switch from Bayer Leverkusen last summer.
The usually-prolific Mexico international has managed just 12 goals in 44 games for the Hammers, with many of those appearances admittedly coming from the bench.
Hernandez has suffered from playing under managers unwilling to play to his strengths, with the 30-year-old really needing a strike partner to bring out his quality.
This frustration has even led to talk of a January exit from the London Stadium, but this weekend may well have been a watershed moment for Hernandez’s Irons career, with the striker bagging two goals in a 3-0 win over Newcastle.
His performance came after Manuel Pellegrini decided to partner him with Marko Arnautovic up front in a move which paid massive dividends and saw the Hammers rip the Magpies to shreds at St. James’ Park.
Pellegrini has now revealed that playing two up front may become more of a permanent fixture for him at West Ham, paving the way for fringe ace Hernandez to play a key role this season.
Speaking in the pre-match press conference ahead of their clash against Cardiff on Wednesday, Pellegrini said: “I normally like to play with two strikers, maybe I was so scared to come here before because everyone told me that West Ham haven’t won here many times in the last 20 seasons, so I had some doubt of course over who to play.
“In the end I went with two strikers and finally we played a very good,” as quoted by football.london.
While Pellegrini has not explicitly said this will be a permanent thing for him, he has admitted that he likes to play with two up top and was quite obviously pleased with how it worked out on Saturday.
The likelihood in the short-term is that Hernandez will get another chance as part of a striking duo on Tuesday, and it is now up to him to convince Pellegrini to make this a regular occurrence.
Should that happen then the 5’9″ Mexico international [Transfermarkt] is set for a major role at the London Stadium this season, and few would have seen that coming a few weeks ago.
