Manuel Pellegrini has called on West Ham fans to ease their criticism of Marko Arnautovic, saying the striker needs support rather than punishment if he is to turn his form around before the end of the season.

The Austrian, who has been booed off by fans in his last two home outings, has not scored since links to the Chinese Premier League emerged in January.

Arnautovic was the Hammers' top goalscorer in his debut season at the club and was denied a move to Asia in January.

The forward scored twice for Austria in March but has not found the back of the net for West Ham since an FA Cup tie with Birmingham on January 5. Moments after an FA Cup exit to Wimbledon in that same month, Arnautovic penned a one-year contract extension, though he is still widely expected to leave the club this summer.

"I don't think anybody can be happy," Pellegrini said of Arnautovic's form. "The fans are not happy, me, Marko is not happy, but this happens to some players when they are not in their best moment. Maybe they need the support more than to punish them.

"Talking with Marko, he wants to do things better. He is absolutely involved with our team, what happened in December with China is now over and finished. If anyone thinks that Marko doesn't want to be here at West Ham, they are wrong. Marko is absolutely involved mentally and physically.

"I repeat, he is not in a good moment but supporting him, he will return to what he demonstrated some months ago.

"A lot of players at parts of the season have bad performances. It is not easy maybe to know that you don't have the support of the fans that he had six months ago. But with his work and a positive mentality he will return."

Arnautovic has started the last two Premier League games and will get another chance to start scoring again when the Hammers visit Chelsea on Monday.

Felipe Anderson, Samir Nasri and Ryan Fredericks all missed last weekend's defeat to Everton but are available for the trip across London, and Pellegrini is calling on his side to remain focused on the home straight.

"I think that nobody was happy after the [Everton] game," Pellegrini said. "I repeat that we will try to finish this season as high as we can in the table.

"We are trying to involve all the players in that mentality, maybe a lot of people can be happy as we are not fighting relegation as was last season, for that reason I understand that some may be happy but our mentality must always be to decide more. That is what we are going to try and do in these six games."