'Stupid' Andy Carroll red card leaves Javier Hernandez poised to finally take centre stage for West Ham

West Ham fans will finally see marquee signing Javier Hernandez played in the position that made him a star at Manchester United.

The Hammers host Brighton on Friday night with Andy Carroll suspended and Diafra Sakho sidelined with a back problem.

And that has opened the door for summer signing Hernandez, who cost £16million from Bayer Leverkusen, to get himself into goalscoring positions in the opposition penalty area.

Hammers fans have been bemused and annoyed to have seen a man with 49 Mexico goals to his name and Real Madrid also on his CV played in a wider role in many games.

But manager Slaven Bilic insisted there had been good reason for that. "People saw him once playing out wide or saw the line up on Sky and thought why is he playing there?" he said.

"The bigger reason is that for a few games we were without a lot of creativity in the middle of the park. We weren’t up the pitch enough times to get him the service.

“Like any other striker that made him a bit frustrated and he was leaving his position to get the ball. Now with most of the players back he can enjoy the games more. I am very excited."

Carroll's absence is the result of his two yellow cards in the first half of his side's 1-1 draw at Burnley last week, both for reckless use of an elbow.

Marko Arnautovic, a new recruit for this season like Hernandez, had been sent off for a similar offence at Southampton in August, and since Bilic succeeded Sam Allardyce in July 2015 12 West Ham players have been sent off.

No other Premier League side has suffered as many dismissals over the same period but Bilic was adamant there was no disciplinary crisis in his squad.

"None of these red cards were from a typical lack of discipline, " he said. "Nobody headbutted anyone. "Andy's one was basically stupid but many of them we appealed and they were ruled out. Three or four, or even five, were completely big mistakes from the referees."

There was no chance Carroll's cards would be rescinded however. "He apologised in the dressing room," Bilic said. "He knew what he had done and he was gutted. He didn't even try to say 'I didn't do it'. He is banned for one game and will get a big chance to make up for it."