Just like there was no shortage of stand-out performers in an enthralling weekend of Premier League action, West Ham United’s 3-0 victory over Nottingham Forest was also full of eye-catching individual displays.
Malick Diouf and Kyle Walker-Peters excelled up against Forest’s thrilling wideman Callum Hudson-Odoi and Dan Ndoye. Their best performances yet for Graham Potter’s side.
Mateus Fernandes produced a ‘really, really good’ debut, to quote another of West Ham United’s Man of the Match contenders; Konstantinos Mavropanos.
Jarrod Bowen’s opener was a finish of ‘world-class’ ability, to quote former Hammer Matthew Upson, while Nuno Espirito Santo had to accept that Nottingham Forest could not cope with Crysencio Summerville’s electrifying impact off the bench.
And then there is Lucas Paqueta.
On a weekend when the Brazil international committed his future to West Ham in the most emphatic fashion, ex-England international Darren Bent felt that Paqueta outshone not only everyone else on the City Ground pitch but everyone else in the whole of the Premier League.
Darren Bent crowns West Ham United ace Lucas Paqueta the Premier League’s standout
Rolling home the most casual of penalties after Ibrahim Sangare upended a rampaging Summerville, Paqueta proved that sometimes actions really can speak louder than words.
A kiss of the badge, a metaphorical throwing away of the phone, and those Aston Villa links were dismissed in an instant. He is already more than halfway to beating last season’s goal tally, meanwhile, with three in his last three appearances.
“Where did that come from?,” Bent begins, speaking on talkSPORT after the Hammers followed up three highly-dispiriting defeats with the most unexpected of 3-0 away wins.
“Paqueta, he’s the one. With what has been going on for the last 18 months, I fully understand why his performances might have been [not the best].
“Now he’s cleared, his performances this season…”
Captain Jarrod Bowen said back in August that a weight had been lifted off Lucas Paqueta’s shoulders, the former AC Milan and Lyon playmaker acquitted of spot-fixing charges after a two-year long investigation.
“If Bowen and Paqueta are at it and Fernandes who they bought from Southampton – he was good, a little bit of energy, a little bit of pace – they will get results. I’ve got no doubts about that,” adds Bent, who scored 106 Premier League goals for the likes of Tottenham Hotspur, Sunderland and Aston Villa.
“A really good performance and Potter needed that, by the way.
“I have gone for Lucas Paqueta [as the weekend’s stand-out performer across the division]. I thought he was absolutely outstanding and I loved the performance.
“There were quite a few good performances, [particularly] Jarrod Bowen. But I just thought Lucas Paqueta, he’s got his mojo back. So he was my performance [of the week].”
Graham Potter and Jarrod Bowen hail Paqueta focus
Furthermore, just 24 hours after Graham Potter revealed that Lucas Paqueta would be staying at West Ham, Aston Villa shifted their focus to Liverpool’s Harvey Elliott.
“The noise has been around Lucas for a long time and the way he conducts himself is incredible,” the manager said after what was only his sixth win in 23 matches. “He gave everything for the team again today and contributed with a goal and the win.
“Don’t believe everything you read online,” Bowen added, in conversation with BBC Sport. “Some people didn’t think he’d turn up and play.
“But he turned up and scored.”
Bent, meanwhile, picked Paqueta as the Premier League’s standout performer over the likes of Crystal Palace skipper Marc Guehi and Liverpool matchwinner Dominik Szoboszlai.
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