Friday 10 May 2019 13:58, UK
Jack Wilshere could make his first West Ham start since September on Sunday, after Manuel Pellegrini confirmed the midfielder will be in his matchday squad.
The 27-year-old has been hampered by an ankle injury for most of the season, making his last start in a home defeat to Wolves on September 1, but may now return to the starting XI against Watford at Vicarage Road.
The former Arsenal man has come off the bench in West Ham's last two home games against Leicester and Southampton.
"Jack is ready to start," Pellegrini said. "He will be involved in the squad list this game exactly as was the last game. The minutes he played he did very well."
The Chilean also revealed that Andriy Yarmolenko is now training "100 per cent" with the rest of the squad, although the Ukrainian is still not ready to play.
A win over Watford would guarantee the Hammers a top-half finish, no mean feat considering they lost their opening four league games.
Pellegrini admitted that reaching 50 points and finishing in the top 10 would make it a good season for West Ham, but looking ahead to next season, he admitted they must continue to improve.
"It means we have a good season, especially if we compare it with last season on all different issues - goals conceded, goals scored and points," Pellegrini added.
"But that must not be our comparison. It's important to know that we made an improvement, but we must try to do it better next season.
"In the future we must work harder and keep improving.
"If we have a normal season without so many injured players, if we can be a consistent team in the way we play, especially the way we played against the top teams, we can improve a lot."
Watford are targeting a record Premier League points total, but do have the small matter of the FA Cup final next weekend against Manchester City.
Pellegrini said he does not feel Javi Gracia's players will be distracted by that and is expecting fully-focused opposition on Sunday.
Asked if he thought Watford might have one eye on the FA Cup final, Pellegrini said: "No, I don't think so.
"They have one week more, they will want to finish winning with their fans in the last game of the season at home.
"As they have one week, I don' think anybody will be thinking about that.
"Watford and Javi Gracia have had a brilliant season, not only for the amount of points in the Premier League, but also for reaching the final of the FA Cup so the players and manager deserve credit."
