Taty Castellanos enjoyed a very good weekend as West Ham United beat Burnley on Saturday.
Castellanos has had a big impact at West Ham United since joining the club from Lazio during a busy January transfer window.
Along with fellow new arrival Pablo Felipe, the Argentine has brought energy and industry to a West Ham frontline that was previously lacking it.
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Still, as positive as their respective starts at the club have been, there have been questions as to whether the two can actually score the goals required to keep the Hammers in the Premier League.
The jury is still out on that front, but Castellanos scored his first Premier League goal as West Ham beat Burnley 2-0 at Turf Moor.
The 27-year-old netted a fine header after Crysencio Summerville had fired the Hammers into the lead, following an excellent cross from El Hadji Malick Diouf.
After the game, he revealed that Diouf saw it coming.
Malick Diouf told Taty Castellanos that he would score against Burnley
Diouf has recently come back into the team following his time away at the Africa Cup of Nations with Senegal.
He has started the last two games in place of Ollie Scarles and the quality of his cross against the Clarets was a real reminder of his ability.
That was Diouf’s first assist since September and, according to Taty, he knew it was coming.
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Speaking to West Ham TV, the striker said: “Malick told me before the game that he was going to give me an assist, so I’m very happy for him.
“I only had to put my head forward to score because he put in a great cross, so I’m very happy for him as well.
“My job is always to help the team, giving all the energy I have, so I’m very happy.”
Malick Diouf’s pre-match comments are brilliant for West Ham
The fact that West Ham were playing one of few teams who have been consistently worse than them this season does need to be taken into account.
However, it would have been easy to approach that game with a sense of trepidation. It was a must-win affair and it would only have been natural to be nervous, particularly given what happened against Chelsea a week before.
Still, the fact that Diouf – a player who had gone so long without an assist for so long – was confident talks to the renewed sense of optimism within the West Ham United squad.
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