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West Ham news: Lucas Perez issues statement after claims he REFUSED to warm up vs Everton
LUCAS PEREZ has released a statement claiming he didn't refuse to warm-up during West Ham’s win at Everton.
The forward was pictured causing a stir on the Hammers bench in the second half creating speculation that he refused to warm up.
Andriy Yarmolenko fired a first half brace before Marko Arnautovic put them 3-1 ahead in the second half.
But the saga took the shine off West Ham’s first Premier League win of the season.
Perez has since released a statement via his Twitter account in attempt to clear things up.
He wrote: “Given the false information spread by the media that has affected my image, I am obliged to explain the only truth: I have never ever refused to warm up in my whole career, let alone play a match.
“In my current club the players on the bench warm up in series of 3 to 5 minutes, in continuous rotation.
“In the moment that Marko got injured, I was on the bench after warming up.
“The coach called me to go out to play, however having realised that it was faster to substitute Antonio in, who at that moment was warming up he changed his decision.
“The images that have been misinterpreted correspond to a talk with the goalkeeper’s coach, in which I never refused to warm up and explained what happened.
“As a professional I accept the decision and I will continue working hard to have as many minutes as I can.”
On the day of his birthday, Manuel Pellegrini was also quick to dismiss talk of a bust-up.
He said: “Maybe it looks and you can think he refuses. I don't have any problem with the player.
"When Arnautovic was injured, I called him because he was making his warm-up, but when he was back sitting on the bench and Antonio was working I called him because he was ready.”
The East London club moved out of the relegation zone with the win and up to 16th in the table.
Next Sunday they will have to replicate a similar performance if they’re to get anything from the match against Chelsea.
The Blues are top of the pile having won all five of their opening Premier League matches.