The season is still in its very early days, but that hasn’t stopped one key man at West Ham from really getting going and silencing some of his critics from the summer. It’s only in the last couple of games he’s done so too, as chances had previously been limited.
That man is Aaron Cresswell, and after starting the club’s first game of the season where Manchester City romped five past the sorry Hammers, Arthur Masuaku took his place on the left of the club’s back four. After the Congolese international’s red card against Aston Villa, Cresswell was drafted back in.
The English left-back and 2015 Hammer of the Year winner has done more than enough to warrant keeping his place in the side now, though. He put in a man of the match display against Manchester United where he scored an amazing free-kick and helped towards a clean sheet.
Then, to make it two from two, he bagged again to equalise against Bournemouth at Dean Court in the 2-2 draw on Saturday as the Hammers continued their unbeaten run in the Premier League with three wins and three draws from their six games since the 5-0 mauling.
Part of the reason for that is almost certainly Cresswell. Despite loads of fans calling for a new left-back to be signed over the summer, the club rewarded Arthur Masuaku with a new contract and opted not to bring in a new man, leaving the role to Masuaku and Cresswell.
Whilst Masuaku certainly started well. Earning an inclusion in WhoScored’s August Premier League team of the month, it now looks like Cresswell was won his place back, and with it he’s been shutting up his critics, to the point that he now looks like the obvious #1 for the role at The London Stadium.
