WHZ View: Vladimir Coufal key to exposing West Brom weakness in 2-1 win
West Ham United battled their way to another Premier League victory on Tuesday evening, beating West Brom 2-1.
Goals from Jarrod Bowen and Michail Antonio either side of a Matheus Pereira has put the Hammers in contention for the European spots.
Before Liverpool face Burnley, the Irons are currently only two points behind the current Premier League champions.
It was a tough evening.
We knew what to expect from a Sam Allardyce side, and West Brom were exactly that, compact and tough to beat.
Vladimir Coufal played a major role in exploiting a key weakness that the Baggies had, claiming the assist for the opening goal.
Albion looked to shut off the middle of the pitch, meaning they left spaces wide open out-wide and Coufal was critical in doing that.
Looking at the first goal – Kamil Grosicki stayed tight to his defence, and the Czech defender peeled off around the back and stayed patient for the ball to arrive.
West Brom packed the area with six players surrounding the likes of Antonio.
The ball to the back post saw Kieran Gibbs and Grosicki vacate space, but Coufal didn’t panic, firing the ball across for Bowen to chest home.
Coufal was key at pushing the Hammers forward against the deep Baggies, attempting 24 forward passes according to WyScout – his most all season.
This has happened all season though and is a real weapon for West Ham.
His assist against Crystal Palace may have been overlooked due to the overhead kick by Sebastien Haller, but he created his side acres of space once again.
This is becoming a real weapon for the Irons.
Continued success will start to make teams more defensive in games, and with that, the importance of players such as Coufal will grow massively.
The Czech stalwart was effective as ever in the win against West Brom, and he must continue that between now and the end of the season.
In other West Ham United news, Moyes responds with PL to investigate Rob Snodgrass deal