Manuel Pellegrini says Andy Carroll is close to a West Ham return
Sunday 11 November 2018 23:36, UK
West Ham boss Manuel Pellegrini says Andy Carroll is close to returning from his ankle injury and could play in a closed-door friendly with Brentford this week.
Carroll has yet to feature for the Hammers this season after suffering a recurrence of an ankle problem during pre-season, but has returned to training with the first-team.
Pellegrini told the club's website: "Andy is close to playing again,
"At the start of last week he started working a little bit with the squad, not 100 per cent, and he will work again this week.
"On Thursday we will play a friendly game and we'll see if he can play some minutes, and I think in the second week of the international break Jack Wilshere will also be able to work with the squad."
West Ham fought out a 1-1 draw with Huddersfield on Saturday but do not play again for two weeks because of the international break.
The gap gives Pellegrini valuable time to prepare for the visit of Premier League leaders Manchester City, who come to the London Stadium on October 24.
The West Ham boss remains convinced that his team are moving in the right direction after taking five points from their last three games.
He added: "I prefer teams that start the game thinking to win it and not just to have a good result, no matter who you're playing.
"That's why I try to put creative and technical players in the starting XI and maybe, in the beginning, it's not so easy to trust in what you're doing, especially in teams that are not used to playing that way, but I think that we are improving a lot.
"At the end of the season this team will be in a better position that it is at the moment and we will always think with a winning mentality to get as high in the table as we can."
