Manuel Pellegrini’s brand of attacking football at Manchester City was distinct from Pep Guardiola’s predominantly because it did not put such a great emphasis on packing the midfield.
There is little doubt that the Chilean’s title-winning side played sumptuously, but Pellegrini generally insisted on fielding a strike duo, which was something of a throwback to a bygone era.
In the Hammers’ final game of pre-season, a 1-0 victory over Angers out in Austria, Pellegrini used a 4-4-2 formation, pairing Javier Hernandez and Marko Arnautovic up front together.
At City, Pellegrini liked using a taller, more physical striker such as Edin Dzeko or Alvaro Negredo alongside nippy goal-getter Sergio Aguero.
Arnautovic is not a typical target man but he showed his power last season to flourish as an often-isolated lone striker under David Moyes as he came into his own in the second part of the campaign.
Meanwhile, Hernandez was not trusted by Bilic. He is an exceptional goalscorer and led the line alone expertly alone at the World Cup for Mexico, but is better suited to playing as part of a duo.
Between them, the duo offer pace, athleticism and goals as a front two. With two of Felipe Anderson, Andriy Yarmolenko or Manuel Lanzini – when he returns from injury – behind them, suddenly the Hammers would have a frontline to threaten anybody in the division.
In the bigger away games, Arnautovic’s familiarity with a wide role may mean that he can come back in to clog up midfield if needs be, with Hernandez will providing a threat on the break.
The front two together should certainly bring more out of Hernandez and mean that Arnautovic is less isolated than he was under Moyes. If Pellegrini sticks with a front two, the duo could be the key to getting the revolution off the ground.
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