West Ham: Paqueta was Moyes’ true star vs United
West Ham United took a huge step towards Premier League safety on Sunday evening as they beat Manchester United 1-0 at the London Stadium.
What happened in West Ham vs Manchester United?
It was the visitors who started the stronger of the two sides, as both Bruno Fernandes and Antony fired narrowly wide of Lukasz Fabianski’s post, with the Polish shot-stopper well-beaten.
Marcus Rashford then hit the woodwork but United’s missed chances came back to haunt them not long after, with David De Gea’s howler gifting Said Benrahma the opening goal just before the half-hour mark.
Both sides had chances to score in the second 45, with Rashford and Anthony Martial denied by the impressive Fabianski, while Tomas Soucek also came close as his acrobatic effort struck the post.
However, Benrahma’s goal would prove enough in the end, and the Hammers move seven points clear of the bottom three with just three games remaining, suggesting that David Moyes’ side can now be considered all but mathematically safe.
Who was West Ham’s best player against Man United?
While Benrahma, and perhaps more likely De Gea, will steal the headlines for the goal, it was arguably Lucas Paqueta who was the strongest performer at the London Stadium.
As per Sofascore, the former AC Milan man would earn an impressive 7.5/10 rating for his performance, which ranked him as the third-best player to feature in the game, with only Fabianski (8.1) and Benrahma (7.8) rated higher.
During his time on the pitch, the Brazil international would register an impressive two shots, two dribbles and three key passes, all of which are an improvement on his seasonal average of 1.8 shots, one dribble and one key pass per game in the Premier League.
Despite his reputation as a flair player and an attacking midfielder, Paqueta has shown in recent weeks that he is more than willing to get stuck in defensively, registering another three tackles on Sunday evening, which again is an improvement on his average of 2.5 tackles per game.
However, that Brazilian flair certainly hasn’t deserted him and he has begun to show his quality on a consistent basis in recent weeks, with the Athletic’s Roshane Thomas suggesting that he, along with Declan Rice and Benrahma, were simply “having fun” in the win at the London Stadium.
The club-record signing was unfortunate to be denied an assist when Soucek’s effort came off the post, but his all-round display was excellent again, and he deserves a lot of credit for upping his game when the Hammers needed him most. Indeed, he was arguably the club’s true hero last night.
