Nuno Espirito Santo will obviously be looking to use West Ham United’s 3-1 victory over Newcastle as a springboard, with Saturday’s clash with Premier League rivals Burnley presenting a glorious chance to build on his first win in charge.
But it is not just West Ham United who hope to have turned a corner.
Just one week earlier, Nuno Espirito Santo looked a beaten man as his team went 2-0 down inside a quarter of an hour at Elland Road. West Ham had fewer points than 2007/08’s Derby County after nine Premier League matches. Their worst start to a season in 52 years.
But what a difference one win makes.
Jack Wilshere, parachuted in at Luton Town in similar circumstances to Nuno’s appointment at the London Stadium, will hope that three successive victories in league and cup transforms an equally miserable start made by his Hatters outfit.
Gideon Kodua, meanwhile, has been integral in that early turnaround. Those early-season struggles not quite overcome – not yet, anyway – but put to one side.
Wilshere is relishing the chance to work with Kodua up close at Kenilworth Road. After all, it was only two years ago that the former Hammers youth captain scored a sumptuous lob against his Arsenal Under-18 side in a 5-1 Youth Cup final thumping at the Emirates Stadium.
All will be forgotten, of course, if Kodua proves to be the driving force who propels Luton up the League One table.
Jack Wilshere hopes West Ham United loanee Gideon Kodua can inspire Luton Town
The London-born 21-year-old is certainly proving himself to be a man for the big moments.
Kodua rescued a point with a last-gasp penalty against Blackpool just before Wilshere’s appointment. And, just days after he assisted Jerry Yates’ opener in the 3-1 EFL Trophy victory over Brighton and Hove Albion, Kodua spared Luton’s blushes in an FA Cup first-round classic against Robbie Savage’s fired-up Forest Green.
“I’m really happy for Gideon,” Wilshere tells Luton Today, Kodua’s dramatic 92nd minute winner in the FA Cup doing wonders for his self-belief.
“He will probably admit himself that he’s not been happy within himself, and he’s struggled a little bit for confidence.
“Since I’ve been here, he’s been really good and his intentions are right all the time. He tries, but probably hasn’t got the success he wanted at times.
“So we decided to give him a rest [Kodua’s Forest Green heroics came from the bench], and we knew that against teams like this and in this league in general, subs are big.”
Wilshere, the former Arsenal and England playmaker who also had a spell with West Ham between 2018 and 2020, feels the youngster will benefit from the experience of recently returned team-mates Izzy Jones, Hakeem Odofin and Liam Walsh.
“They have quality,” Wilshere adds. “And what I said about Gideon being a bit frustrated with himself, having players back like that will help Gideon.
“It will help him, he can see them, see their quality and it will lift his level as well.”
Kodua destroyed Wilshere’s Arsenal team in the FA Youth Cup final
With goal contributions in each of his last two matches, the Wilshere appointment could be as important for Kodua as, say, the arrival of Nuno Espirito Santo will be for an underachieving West Ham roster.
Surprisingly, given that they had worked together before at Wycombe Wanderers, the Hammers loanee struggled to find his best form under Matt Bloomfield in Bedfordshire. Bloomfield even dropped Kodua from the Luton squad a few weeks before his sacking.
“I don’t want to talk about him!” Wilshere laughed following that reunion with his old Youth Cup nemesis. “He was excellent in that [2023 final]. And the first time I saw him, I said ‘hello’ to him.
“He was all shy and I said, ‘don’t forget what you did to me.’ He started laughing.
“But in that game, actually last season as well [during his loan spell at Wycombe], when someone breaks your heart like that, you follow their journey. I thought he had an interesting season last year and it’s definitely a season for him to kick on.
“He has the ability to. We need to get him positions more where he can show his ability, but he’s very exciting.”
Before his departure, Bloomfield confirmed that Luton have ‘an option to buy’ clause in Kodua’s contract.
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