Sam Allardyce has refused to give Andy Carroll any guarantees he will return to the West Ham starting line-up following the completion of his ban.
Carroll has served his three-match suspension after his red card against Swansea and is available for selection this weekend.
West Ham won all three games in the striker’s absence and Allardyce must decide whether to replace Carlton Cole, who scored in last weekend’s 3-1 win against Southampton, with Carroll.
The Hammers boss said: “It is a tough decision over Andy based on Carlton’s performance last week. Now Carlton is back in top condition, he has produced more goals than he did last season.”
Allardyce also backed Carroll to make Roy Hodgson’s World Cup squad. “If Andy ends the season as well as he did last year, there shouldn’t be any problems about him being in the squad for Brazil,” he said.
