Forget Soucek: West Ham ace with 5 tackles and 74 touches was Moyes' hero vs Wolves - opinion

West Ham United recorded a vital 1-0 home win over Wolverhampton Wanderers with both sides chasing European qualification for next season.

Tomas Soucek’s second-half strike proved the difference between the two sides as the Hammers climbed to fifth in the Premier League table whilst Wolves remain eighth.

Although the Czech Republic international will get plenty of praise for scoring the decisive goal, teammate Pablo Fornals had an excellent afternoon for the Hammers and looked as though he could be getting back to his best at the perfect time for West Ham.

The Spaniard started the campaign excellently, scoring four goals and assisting two in his first 11 league appearances of the season, but has just one goal in almost four months of Premier League action.

Although he didn’t score or assist against Bruno Lage’s side, the attacking midfielder was certainly influential.

According to SofaScore, Fornals was the Irons’ joint-best player alongside Kurt Zouma, picking up a rating of 8.2/10 whilst making 74 touches, one of the most in his side.

Moreover, the livewire enjoyed an 80% passing accuracy alongside making two key passes and successfully completing three of four attempted dribbles.

However, it was the wide man’s defensive contribution that was so impressive, with the 26-year-old making five tackles and two interceptions whilst winning 75% of his duels as West Ham kept their seventh clean sheet of the Premier League season.

It would’ve certainly been pleasing for Moyes to see a player with plenty of potential look back to his best after a tricky run in the side that has seen little goal contributions.

Since joining the East London outfit from La Liga side Villareal in 2019, Fornals has had a mixed spell in the English