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This article is part of Football FanCast's Opinion series, which provides analysis, insight and opinion on any issue within the beautiful game, from Paul Pogba's haircuts to League Two relegation battles...

Jack Wilshere has had a completely stop-start West Ham United career to date, but he may now just have the perfect opportunity to repay the faith both the club and manager Manuel Pellegrini have shown in him over the next few weeks.

Football London reported at the weekend that having missed the clash against Manchester United through injury, Manuel Lanzini will be out for up to a month with bone bruising on his foot.

The Argentina international had started all of the east London outfit's five Premier League matches prior to that, and he was joined by Wilshere in the starting XI in the opening two of those against Manchester City and Brighton.

However, the former Arsenal man then missed out on the squad altogether for the following encounters with Watford and Norwich City, with Pellegrini suggesting he had been rested for the former – he played 82 minutes in the cup tie against Newport County just a few days later.

The 27-year-old, who made his return to the pitch in the top flight as a substitute against Manchester United on Sunday, may well be in contention to start the Carabao Cup clash with Oxford United on Wednesday, and he needs to perform well.

As things stand, it looks as though he will be battling summer addition Pablo Fornals for a spot in the starting XI with Mark Noble and Declan Rice appearing to once again be favoured picks for their Chilean manager.

There is no doubt given his injury issues in the past that the Irons took a punt on bringing Wilshere to the London Stadium, even though Pellegrini and director of football Mario Husillos had quickly identified him as a target in 2018.

Per West Ham's official website, the latter said on completing the signature: "Manuel and I identified him as a target as soon as we joined the club and we are delighted to have succeeded in securing Jack's signature above a number of other teams.

"On the biggest stage, he has shown that he has game-changing abilities, as well as having the creativity and intelligence to make a real difference to our squad."

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The fact he only played eight Premier League games last term due to injury means we haven't really seen that quality yet, with one goal and one assist all he has to show for his total of 12 outings in all competitions.

The midfielder, who earns £100,000-a-week according to Spotrac, now has the chance to step up and prove that he can have a big season at West Ham and be game-changing, and he must not waste it.