Marko Arnautovic must make it up to us after red card, admits West Ham boss Slaven Bilic

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Slaven Bilic has told Marko Arnautovic he has a lot to make up to his team-mates after his red card ruined the start of his West Ham career – starting at the Hawthorns.

The Premier League club’s record £24million signing is set to start against West Brom, having not appeared since his sending off at Southampton a month ago.

Bilic has spoken to Arnautovic about his costly elbow that day and what he now expects from him following his three-match ban.

Club record signing Marko Arnautovic is set to start against West Brom on Saturday

‘A lot to prove? Yes,’ Bilic said. ‘It’s not a one-man game but he did something very bad at the start of his West Ham career.

‘Instead of helping us straight away he wasn’t there for three games because of what he did against Southampton. So now he has to make it up for us.

‘I’ve spoken to him a few times about that and he’s said he can’t wait to come back and he wants to make it up to us. I’m expecting that from him. He is very hungry and very motivated.

Arnautovic says he has a lot to make up to his team-mates following his three-match ban

‘That price (£24m) is a bonus. Every new player wants to prove himself and show why he is here.

‘But if you put on top of that his price, it was big for West Ham. Then it doubles the expectations and the pressure is on.

‘I’m there to help him. We’re there to help him, my staff, the team, everything, but it’s up to him to do it. Now he is back after the ban. He is fit. Now I’m expecting from him to make a difference.’

Bilic called a meeting on Thursday morning with his squad to stop them from getting ahead of themselves after their 2-0 win over Huddersfield.

Slaven Bilic has spoken to Arnautovic about his costly dismissal at Southampton

The Croatian is optimistic, however, as he said: ‘We have time to do everything.

‘If we are talking about time and games, we have enough games to make it the best season in the club’s history. The season just started to be fair.

‘It doesn’t go like this (clicks fingers) after just one win, everything is just great. No, it’s not all great but we are in a much better situation than we were one week ago.

‘If we think “now we have beaten Huddersfield” and think “we are mentally sorted, let’s play football” then it ain’t gonna be good.

‘It wasn’t a graveyard before, it wasn’t like that, but you can imagine it is much better now.’