Human hand grenade Carroll may be England option
By Tony Jimenez
LONDON (Reuters) - If England want to lob a human hand grenade on to the pitch to shake things up late in European Championship matches in June, they need look no further than West Ham United's very own lethal weapon Andy Carroll.
With Wayne Rooney, Harry Kane and Daniel Sturridge likely to dominate the starting places up front at the finals in France, the bustling Carroll would be an ideal option for England manager Roy Hodgson to utilise as a battering-ram substitute.
The former Liverpool and Newcastle United striker was a menace when he came on in the second half of the 2-2 Premier League draw at Chelsea on Saturday.
Carroll scored within two minutes of entering the field after being sent racing clear by Dimitri Payet. He also had an effort hacked off the line by Bertrand Traore and forced a point-blank reflex save from Thibaut Courtois.
"I have great memories of Euro 2012 and would love to be there again," Carroll told the Evening Standard this week.
"My love for my country is never going to go away. Hopefully I will stay fit, keep playing, score goals and I will get a chance to go."
Carroll should have won far more than the nine international caps he has collected but the pony-tailed forward has been plagued by injuries throughout his career.
"I don't want to be getting injured now, it would be the worst thing," he said. "It's upsetting really.
"It's still a dream to play for my country. It's something I want to do and I will never give up on it," said Carroll who has not been capped by England since joining West Ham in 2013.
DISPUTED PENALTY
Fifth-placed West Ham took the lead at Chelsea following a long-range drive from Manuel Lanzini in the 17th minute before Cesc Fabregas equalised on the stroke of halftime when he delivered a pinpoint free kick from 20 metres into the top corner of the net.
Carroll restored the visitors' advantage in the 61st minute but Fabregas earned 10th-placed Chelsea a point with a disputed late penalty after substitute Ruben Loftus-Cheek appeared to be
brought down outside the area.
"It was a great game...it was a privilege to be a part of," said West Ham manager Slaven Bilic.
"I have nothing but praise for our players. They did fantastically and we are gutted because we deserved to win this game and also because of their equaliser.
"When you concede from a penalty that wasn't a penalty it makes it really hard and unacceptable. We didn't deserve it," added Bilic.
Chelsea's interim manager Guus Hiddink, still unbeaten in the league since taking over from the sacked Jose Mourinho in December, said his team's performance merited a draw.
"I think it was a fair result," added Hiddink. "In the first half we started okay but had a sloppy period when we were losing the ball easily.
"We controlled the second half but were caught on the counter attack. The team had to react and they did."
(Editing by Clare Fallon)