Manuel Lanzini was one of the few bright sparks as West Ham United were held by Burnley at Turf Moor on Sunday afternoon.
It puts a big dent in the Irons’ hopes of Champions League qualification as it brings them ever so much closer to the chasing pack and so much further away from Chelsea, who they defeated last weekend, in third place.
The Clarets were resolute in restricting the Hammers to just three shots on target from 16 attempts all game, dealing a struggling Michail Antonio with another frustrating outing.
As is often the case, England international Declan Rice reaped a lot of the plaudits for his performance and it is true that he was one of the best-performing players. However, plenty of credit must go towards Manuel Lanzini, who delivered another statement-like display.
The Argentine has now started back-to-back matches and looks a scratch above the likes of Antonio and Said Benrahma, with the pair turning stale in recent outings.
In the 80 minutes he lasted on the pitch, the £9m-rated playmaker made 94% of his 47 passes, the best of any player on the pitch, so evidently, he was showing for the ball and trying to create chances, in which he made two key passes.
Elsewhere on the pitch, he fired off two shots, put in one tackle and registered 59 touches, leading to The Evening Standard’s Jack Rosser describing his performance as “very impressive” on social media.
That was echoed by football.london reporter Tom Clark in his post-match ratings column, where he claimed: ‘West Ham’s best performer in the first-half with the Argentine finding pockets of space to work in. Influence waned as the match went on but a decent display from the No.10.’
So forget about Rice, you can expect that sort of display from him week-in, week-out. It was the £69k-per-week Lanzini who arguably stole the show for the visiting Irons and perhaps means he was the one silver lining in what was a frustrating affair in Lancashire.
AND in other news, Rob Newman could sign Moyes’ next Jarrod Bowen in West Ham swoop for £12m “special talent”…