Fulham legend Danny Murphy admits he was impressed by an excellent Lucas Paqueta performance during West Ham United’s controversial 3-1 London derby win in the Premier League on Sunday, speaking on Match of the Day 2.
Following a sluggish start to life in the capital, Paqueta is starting to click ominously into gear in claret and blue.
After setting up Gianluca Scamacca’s winner in Anderlecht on Thursday, the Brazilian assisted his Italian team-mate once again over the weekend, repeating the trick with a trademark through ball as a VAR-assisted Hammers side secured back-to-back Premier League wins for the first time in nine months.
Slowly but surely, Paqueta is starting to justify his reported £51 million price-tag as West Ham creep up the table.
Lucas Paqueta and Gianluca Scamacca shine as West Ham beat Fulham
“Paqueta; his best game in a West Ham shirt. He was superb,” says Murphy, who captained Fulham in their UEFA Europa League final defeat to a Diego Forlan-inspired Atletico Madrid in 2010.
“He finds spaces so well. That’s what great players do; creative players. He’s got the physicality to do the defensive work, which Moyes likes. But every time he gets space, he’s looking for Scamacca, who led the line really, really well.
“(Paqueta and Scamacca) love playing together. That link up is growing. And the fans are going to love watching these two play together.”
A re-energised West Ham are now 13th in the Premier League table, following up that impressive 2-0 win against Wolves with an admittedly fortunate victory over Marco Silva’s luckless Fulham side.
“If you were any centre forward, you’d want to play with Paqueta,” Moyes pointed out at full-time.
“He looks like he is someone who is going to give you the ball when maybe you need it. Or, when the opposition least expect it. I thought there were bits of Paqueta today that were terrific. And then there were other bits that I thought were poor.
“I think at the moment, it’s the bit between the really high and the low. But I thought today he played ever so well.”
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