Forget Bowen: WHU's "unsung hero" who had 96 touches proved his true worth vs Watford - opinion

David Moyes’ West Ham United side went into Tuesday evening’s Premier League fixture against Watford in something of a poor run of form, having lost their last two league games, as well as narrowly edging past Kidderminster Harriers in the fourth round of the FA Cup last weekend.

As such, the 58-year-old Hammers boss would undoubtedly have been hoping for a much-improved performance and result against the Hornets last night, and, while the overall display was by no means the Irons’ best of the season, Jarrod Bowen’s deflected 68th-minute strike proved enough for West Ham to secure all three points at the London Stadium – with the fixture ending 1-0 to the home side.

However, while Bowen will quite rightly steal the headlines after yet another match in which he dragged his side over the line, it will undoubtedly be the performance of the returning Aaron Cresswell that most pleased Moyes on Tuesday night, as the 32-year-old proved just how important he is to West Ham with a commanding display from left-back against Roy Hodgson’s outfit.

Indeed, while the defender was not overly bothered in a defensive capacity by either Juraj Kucka or Kiko Femenia on Watford’s right flank, Cresswell was nevertheless resilient when required – making two tackles, one interception, two clearances and winning three duels over his 90 minutes on the pitch.

However, it was going forwards when the £3.6m-rated left-back truly earned his keep, posing a continual threat for the Hornet’s defenders with his 14 attempted long balls and his six attempted crosses – a total of seven of which found their intended target.

The former England international also enjoyed 96 touches of the ball – the third-most on the night behind Vladimir Coufal, who had 107,