West Ham United were beaten 3-1 at home by Premier League rivals Tottenham Hotspur in the EFL Cup on Wednesday night.
A couple of seldom-seen forward players were given a chance to impress as West Ham faced Tottenham Hotspur in the EFL Cup fourth round on Wednesday night.
But while the likes Javier Hernandez and Michail Antonio really struggled to impress, Fernando Llorente seized his chance. It was the Spanish striker who helped Tottenham to a 3-1 win at the London Stadium, scoring the third himself after brushing off Angelo Ogbonna while leading the line impressively.
And, speaking on the BBC Radio 5 Live Football Daily podcast (1 November), former West Ham midfielder Don Hutchison says there was a stark contrast between the displays of Llorente and the home side’s forwards.
“He was excellent. He’s great for midfield players and I thought Spurs battered West Ham in the midfield and that was all to do with Fernando Llorente getting hold of the ball and not being wasteful in possession,” Hutchison said.
“That’s what Chicharito and Antonio were doing. And once (Llorente) got hold of the ball, all of a sudden Son was excellent, Harry Winks was making forward runs, Dele Alli was spinning off, Christian Eriksen was excellent – all because they had that focal point.
“Antonio had an absolute stinker. Chicharito couldn’t really hold the ball up.”
Antonio and Hernandez have barely featured in the Premier League since Manuel Pellegrini took over and below-par displays against bitter rivals Tottenham will not do their hopes of a more regular role in the starting XI any good.
Fortunately for Hammers fans, however, the display of academy graduate Grady Diangana provided plenty of reason for optimism. The 20-year-old winger scored twice on his debut in the 8-0 thrashing of Macclesfield Town in the previous round and stood out once again against Tottenham.
“The only one who looked a real player was the young boy, Grady Diangana,” Hutchison added.
“He was absolutely sensational. He was willing to take people on, go past people. A 20-year-old was probably West Ham’s Man of the Match.”
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