Alphonse Areola showed exactly why he is a FIFA World Cup winner in Sunday’s 3-1 Premier League win over Newcastle United.
West Ham United’s France international goalkeeper made three vital first-half saves to give his team the platform to go on and secure an important victory.
At 1-0 down, he kept out a Jacob Murphy effort.
At 1-1, moments after Lucas Paquetá had levelled, he made a spectacular one-handed save to tip Anthony Gordon’s goal-bound shot inches past the post.
Minutes later, he made another fine diving stop to divert Joelinton’s strike wide of the target to keep the scores level.
Within three minutes, Sven Botman had put Aaron Wan-Bissaka’s cross into his own net to give West Ham a lead they would not relinquish.
And that was in large part due to Areola’s commanding of his own six-yard box from a succession of corners and crosses, which he either caught or punched well clear of the home penalty area.
As full-time approached with the Irons defending a 2-1 advantage, he was there again to keep out William Osula’s header.
Moments later, Tomáš Souček bundled in West Ham’s third and the three points were secure – as secure as Alphonse Areola’s all-round performance in goal.