It was a game that many West Ham fans felt like they should have walked the victors from, yet a 0-0 draw saw the points shared between the east London side and Aston Villa. But it could have been so much more different.
Arthur Masuaku was sent off halfway through the second-half for an extremely harsh second yellow card as the left-back seemingly made zero contact with Ahmed Elmohamady that saw Mike Dean reach for his pocket and dismiss the DR Congo international.
Indeed, video replays showed that Masuaku had in fact not made much contact with the Villa defender, and that Elmohamady had sold the foul perfectly, resulting in the West Ham man’s sending off.
But red card aside, it was a promising performance for the left-back who yet again impressed for the Hammers after seemingly nailing down the position in the XI this season after yo-yo-ing between in and out of the squad last campaign, and the numbers show that Masuaku, who has a Transfermarkt valuation of £9m, did, in fact, have a good game against Villa.
As stats from WhoScored show, the 25-year-old made more tackles out of anyone in the West Ham defence, winning 100% of them and having a pass completion rate of 80%, as well as retaining the most possession out of any Hammers defender with 5.2%.
Poor officiating and an even worse lack of VAR cost West Ham not only an extra man on the pitch but a potential three points that could have sent the east London side up to the third in the Premier League table, and with Masuaku now out for the next game against Manchester United, the Hammers might have just lost a player who was beginning to find his mojo again.
