West Ham United are currently sitting outside of the Premier League’s top 10.
Sky Sports pundit Alan Smith has compared West Ham United defender Issa Diop to Arsenal legend Patrick Vieira following his side’s 1-0 win at Tottenham on Saturday.
With four minutes left on the clock, centre-back Diop, from inside his own half, went on a solo run into Spurs’ penalty area only to see his shot saved by Hugo Lloris.
Speaking during his commentary stint for Sky Sports Premier League (27/04/2019), Smith compared Diop’s run to Vieira making a box-to-box run in his prime.
“That would have been a collector’s item [his solo run],” Smith told Sky Sports PL. “I don’t think he could believe he ended up where he did. It’s like Patrick Vieira there striding through the middle.
“Was this [Diop’s shot] going to finish up in the corner? It needed a touch from Lloris. Not the strongest shot in the world – It’s been a defiant display at the back. Issa Diop has been the pick of the bunch. A little to say going forward as well.”
It was a brilliant run by Diop who simply couldn’t generate enough power to beat Lloris in between the sticks. There is no doubt that had he scored then he would have sent the away fans into party mode.
Nonetheless, they would have settled with the one goal by Michail Antonio which was scored in the second half and ensured they became the first team to walk about from Tottenham’s new stadium with all three points.
Summer signing Diop was a rock at the heart of the club’s defence as he stopped the likes of Heung-Min Son, Lucas Moura, Dele Alli and Fernando Llorente from finding the back of the net.
Manuel Pellegrini’s side will now focus their attention to next Saturday and their final home game of the season at the London Stadium against Southampton.
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