West Ham manager Slaven Bilic believes Javier Hernandez and Andy Carroll can fire the goals to spark his team’s rise up the Premier League table.
Hernandez has scored twice in four games since arriving from Bayer Leverkusen this summer, but was substituted during the Hammers’ 2-0 victory over Huddersfield on Monday.
Carroll made his first appearance in five months in that game as the Hammers went for a more direct approach, but Bilic insists the pair can flourish alongside each other.
“Definitely they can play together, they are complimentary players,” Bilic told Sky Sports.
“That was the plan when we got Hernandez. We didn’t buy him just because of that, but also one of the reasons why he was great for us was because they are two players that can play with each other.
“The little and large striker, it’s not that you don’t see that in football anymore, a lot of teams play with two strikers.
“It’s maybe not exactly like that but you have Fernando Torres and Antoine Griezmann (at Atletico Madrid). Griezmann is the one who is floating, Torres is the more direct.
“You have that maybe less nowadays but it’s not old-fashioned. They can play together.”
Playing one up front has become popular in the Premier League in recent times, but Carroll and Hernandez certainly have the potential to buck that trend.
Andy Cole and Dwight Yorke, Thierry Henry and Dennis Bergkamp, and Alan Shearer and Chris Sutton have previously shown the value of prolific partnerships, although whether the Hammers duo can reach those lofty heights is open to plenty of debate.
If Carroll stays fit – and that’s a big ‘if’ given his previous injury record – his partnership with Hernandez has the potential to cause plenty of damage.
With the World Cup in Russia also on the agenda next summer an in-form Carroll could be a big boost for England, but only time will tell whether he can avoid his previous injury woes.
West Ham fans were unhappy to see Hernandez subbed against Huddersfield and they will hope Bilic has the courage of his convictions to give the pair the time to forge a prolific double act.
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