Manuel Pellegrini has denied that Lucas Perez refused to warm up during West Ham's 3-1 win at Everton and insists he has no problems with the forward.
West Ham headed to Goodison Park on Sunday - Pellegrini's 65th birthday - bottom of the Premier League table off the back of four straight defeats, but the Hammers finally clicked into gear.
Andriy Yarmolenko scored two first-half goals on his English top-flight debut before Gylfi Sigurdsson headed home just before the break to boost Everton's hopes of a second-half fightback.
But West Ham soon dashed those hopes as Marko Arnuatovic - who assisted Yarmolenko in the first half - scored a goal of his own just past the hour mark to put the Hammers back in control.
In Pictures | Everton vs West Ham | 16/09/2018
Pellegrini made his first change of the afternoon soon after by bringing on Michail Antonio for Arnautovic, while Carlos Sanchez came on for captain Mark Noble with 20 minutes remaining.
Match broadcasters Sky Sports reported at the time that Lucas had refused to warm up in order to come on, with cameras cutting to the bench to show the forward in an animated discussion with West Ham goalkeeper coach Xavi Valero.
Pellegrini went on to make one final change, with Robert Snodgrass replacing Yarmolenko after 82 minutes, with Lucas remaining an unused substitute. However, the Hammers boss has dismissed reports of a bust-up with the Spanish forward, explaining that Antonio was 'ready' to come on as the first sub.
Pellegrini told BBC's Match of the Day: "Always when you are not winning there are a lot of stories - this week it was about the team leak.
"I called Lucas [Perez] to get ready to play, but [Michail] Antonio was already ready so played as I needed to make the change. I don't have any problem with the player."
