West Ham United’s 2-0 victory at Burnley was an afternoon in which various Premier League hoodoos were put to bed.
Taty Castellanos opened his Hammers account in the FA Cup in January, but this was a first top-flight goal for the £27 million signing from Lazio.
Mads Hermansen ended a five-month wait for a clean sheet on the day when he made his return to team following 20 successive Alphonse Areola starts. Furthermore, before Crysencio Summerville clipped a fine finish over Martin Dubravka, Jesse Lingard was the last to score in five straight games for West Ham United.
What a weekend 😍😍
That one felt big – how do you now feel about the relegation battle?! 🤔
Credit: Getty Images/Kate McShane
A six-year wait smashed in a stunning five-goal streak from a previously profligate Dutchman.
El Hadji Malick Diouf, meanwhile, has his first assist since Nuno Espirito Santo replaced Graham Potter in September.
West Ham United beat Burnley as El Hadji Malick Diouf assists Taty Castellanos
Photo by Molly Darlington/Getty Images
Back then, Diouf was the first full-back to record three assists in any of Europe’s major leagues. Those three came in his first five Premier League appearances.
Thirteen games came and went without another, as well as the manager who brought him to the London Stadium from Slavia Prague, but Diouf is again showing us why the Senegal star was likened to a young Gareth Bale on the back of his flying start to life in claret and blue.
Picking up possession wide on the left after Summerville had taken Kyle Walker out of the game with a clever flick, Diouf took a touch to settle himself and then whipped a glorious cross onto the head of Taty Castellanos.
Diouf provides ‘outstanding’ cross as Hammers move closer to survival
There are similarities between Castellanos and Raul Jimenez; Nuno’s trusty centre-forward at Wolves. A real presence in the air, avid Castellanos watchers won’t be surprised to learn that the January signing’s two West Ham goals have come via the forehead.
For Diouf, though, this was a performance which serves to remind just how highly the Hammers faithful and plenty of neutrals were talking about him earlier in the campaign.
Who was your MOTM vs Burnley and why? Let us know in the comments 👇
Photo by Kate McShane/Getty Images
“It’s another outstanding goal,” former Scotland and Celtic striker Davie Provan said on the World Feed as Castellanos doubled West Ham’s lead at Turf Moor.
“The awareness and quality [from that man Summerville] to flick it round Kyle Walker and then the cross and the header; it’s a superb goal from a West Ham point of view.
“Scott Parker will be fuming that it’s so easy, but what a goal.
“Summerville, great little flick. Diouf gets his head up, into an area. Castellanos, perfectly timed run and it’s a lovely header as well. An outstanding goal. The pace is all in the cross. Castellanos just needs to get something on it, change of direction, and it’s a lovely header.”
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