Manuel Pellegrini has teased that Jack Wilshere could start for West Ham United against Norwich City on Saturday.
The England international returned to the starting 11 against Newport County on Tuesday evening in the Carabao Cup and scored the opening goal as the Hammers eased to a 2-0 victory.
Wilshere completely missed out on the trip to Watford, and Pellegrini revealed in his post-match press conference as quoted by Football.London on their live blog (29/08, 12:44 pm) that he was impressed with the £100,000-a-week ace [Spotrac] and he could start on Saturday.
“We cannot expect Jack to give the 100 per cent of quality he has because he is coming off a long injury,” he said.
“He played very well the other night [Newport] not just because he scored, it was a complete game. We will see tomorrow if he makes the starting eleven for Norwich.”
Wilshere started in the Hammers’ first two games of the season against Manchester City and Brighton due to the absence of captain Mark Noble, who returned against Watford.
OPINION
Pellegrini is finally getting the opportunity to select from his full first-team West Ham squad for the first time this season, with the majority of his squad returning from injury. Wilshere has been looked after at certain points – being subbed off in both of the first two Premier League games of the season before the hour mark. The 27-year-old has been placed in holding midfield, and has excelled on the ball in possession – averaging 17 passes a game, with an impressive 88.2% success rate [Source: WhoScored]. With Declan Rice and Noble picking up where they left off last season in that partnership against Watford, unless Pellegrini slightly switches system – Wilshere should expect to be on the bench for the game against Norwich, no matter how well he has returned to form this season. Although the Chilean has teased the fact that the England international could make the starting 11, the likelihood of that happening at this moment is slim.
