When news of Niclas Fullkrug’s injury emerged on social media earlier this week, we all feared the worst.
Fans remain hopeful that the German will be the striker who finally ends the club’s Premier League striker curse, after a long list of forwards have come and gone over the last decade or more without really making much of an impact.
Instead, it has been the likes of Michail Antonio, Marko Arnautovic and Jarrod Bowen to show their worth as strikers, all of which were originally signed as wingers. Indeed, Bowen still plays as a winger for the majority of the time, yet delivers a goal return befitting of a top Premier League striker.
While players such as Sebastien Haller and Gianluca Scamacca arrived with promise before leaving under a cloud of disappointment, fans have been left wondering whether there is a striker out there, somewhere, who can do actual striker things in the famous claret and blue.
Fullkrug is the latest to take on that challenge and despite having to settle for late appearances off the bench so far in the Premier League this term, has shown some early signs that he might just be that guy.
So you can imagine the fear when it emerged that the 31-year-old had picked up an ankle injury while on international duty with Germany that would force him to miss his country’s Nations League clash with the Netherlands and head back to east London early for treatment.
The initial fears were that it was an achilles problem, which will have undoubtedly led to a number of weeks on the sideline and Julen Lopetegui being forced to rely on Antonio to lead the line during that period.
But is has since emerged that the injury to the striker’s ankle is nothing more than a bruise and that he will be back to full training within a couple of days.
According to West Ham insider, Sean Whetstone, who operates the West Ham Football X account, Fullkrug “will miss this weekend’s game against Fulham but should be fit for the following game against Chelsea.”
That is a huge boost given the lack of options we do have up front. While Antonio has been a ever-present and reliable presence up front throughout much of his decade at West Ham, Danny Ings has struggled to make in impact whatsoever since joining the club two years ago, with just four goals and two assists from his 53 appearances in all competitions so far.
Disrupted plans for Fulham
Of course, having to do without Fullkrug as a striker option for the trip to Fulham this weekend is not ideal.
Fans have been calling for Lopetegui to play the German forward from the start, having opted to use Fullkrug from the bench in the Premier League up to now.
There will have been hope amongst the fanbase that the trip to Craven Cottage this Saturday would present the perfect chanCe to make that change to the starting XI, but that will no longer happen as the striker rests for a few more days.
Will that have hampered Lopetegui’s plans? Yes, no doubt. But it’s not the disaster everyone feared and losing Fullkrug for just one game isn’t the end of the world.
Regardless of whether Lopetegui had plans to give Fullkrug his first Premier League start against Fulham or not, the striker represents a very good option to being off the bench.
As long as he’s fit to face Chelsea the following weekend, we can simply put this down as a minor bump in the road as Lopetegui continues to stamp his authority on this West Ham team.
The early signs are these he’s making good progress, with the style of football already visibly different to that played under David Moyes over the last few years, and despite picking up just three points from our first three league games, overall performances have left fans encouraged that the new Spanish boss is on to something good in east London.
