West Ham United paid £7m to keep goalkeeper Lukasz Fabianski in the Premier League after Swansea City’s relegation.
West Ham United fans won’t need reminding that they conceded the most goals in the Premier League last season. In 38 games, The Hammers’ defence was breached a remarkable 68 times.
But Manuel Pellegrini’s side showed how far they’ve come since then with a hard-earned goalless draw at home to a previously ominous Chelsea side on Sunday afternoon at the London Stadium.
Issa Diop and Fabian Balbuena have the makings of a solid defensive partnership but the impact of Lukasz Fabianski cannot be understated.
The experienced Polish goalkeeper was one of West Ham’s most overlooked summer signings, costing just £7 million following Swansea City’s relegation in May. But he is perhaps the best pound for pound addition the club has made in 2018.
And one hugely impressive stat shows just how impressive Fabianski has been under Pellegrini. According to Opta, only one man in Europe’s top five leagues has made more saves than the 33-year-old so far in 2018/19.
The fact that former West Ham loanee Joe Hart, who is rebuilding his reputation at Burnley, is at number one should not diminish a fine achievement.
Fabianski looks like the safe pair of hands that West Ham have needed for some time now and, for as well as they played against Chelsea, one point would still have been none had he not made a terrific instinctive save to deny Alvaro Morata.
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