Ben Johnson made his West Ham United debut in arguably their toughest game of the season.
A number of West Ham fans have taken to Twitter to comment on Ben Johnson’s performance as the 19-year-old made his Hammers debut in the 1-0 defeat to Manchester City on Wednesday night.
With Arthur Masuaku and Aaron Cresswell both injured, Johnson became the latest academy prospect to be given a chance in the first-team by Manuel Pellegrini. But he could not have been handed a greater baptism of fire.
On paper, away to Manchester City was always going to be West Ham’s most daunting fixture of the season. But the Irons did not make life easy for the Carabao Cup winners.
In fact, City were relying on Sergio Aguero scoring from the penalty spot after a very controversial decision to penalise Felipe Anderson early on in the second-half.
Johnson was tasked with keeping Riyad Mahrez quiet at the Etihad Stadium, and he arguably did a fantastic job given that it was the first time that the West Ham fans had got to see the teenager play for the senior side.
It was certainly the kind of performance that will leave Pellegrini and the Hammers hierarchy feeling extremely optimistic about the prospect of using him again in the very near future.
Here is what some of the Irons supporters on social media made of Johnson’s display…
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