OPINION
There’s nothing worse for a striker than a barren spell.
Forwards thrive on goals, and if you take goals out of the equation then nine times out of ten you’re going to end up with a player lacking in confidence and struggling for a the kind of form that leads to positive contributions.
West Ham fans know a thing or two about misfiring strikers, but the last thing any of them will have wanted or expected at the start of the season will have been talismanic Austrian Marko Arnautovic to have joined the long list of claret and blue strikers unable to buy themselves a goal.
Ever since Arnautovic was moved into a central position by David Moyes, he has been absolutely lethal for the Hammers, but his well-documented and utterly damaging Chinese transfer debacle in January seems to have put pay to any kind of momentum of form he might have accrued over the past few years.
The 29-year-old hasn’t scored since the 5th of January in an FA Cup tie with Birmingham City – or at least he hadn’t until he scored the opener in his nation’s Euro 2020 qualifier with Israel on Sunday evening.
He added another towards the end of a 4-2 defeat and while the goals may have been relatively inconsequential in the end, they could be the harbinger of a return to some kind of purple patch that will have West Ham fans dancing in the streets.
He’s still a long way off his best, but at least this is a start.
