Alphonse Areola astonishes BT Sport commentators for West Ham United v Anderlecht
Alphonse Areola stunned BT Sport commentators Peter Drury and Clive Allen with a fantastic late save to preserve the West Ham victory at Anderlecht.
Finally leading through substitute Gianluca Scamacca’s 79th-minute strike on Thursday night (6 October) the Hammers needed their French goalkeeper to bail them out at the back four minutes later.
As a cross came in from the Irons’ left, Wolves loanee Fabio Silva rose between Craig Dawson and Ben Johnson to get his head on the ball for what looked like a certain equaliser, but the West Ham keeper sprung to his right to keep it out on the line as his side went on to win 1-0.
Live on the BT Sport match commentary, which was then clipped for the station’s Twitter account Drury said: “Oh what a save! That is an astonishing stop! At point blank range from Alphonse Areola.”
Allen felt much the same, adding: “Well he’s had very little to do but that is an absolutely sensational stop from Areola.”
Crucial
So often the mark of a great goalkeeper is being able to maintain concentration for long periods with little to do and still pull a save out of the bag.
There aren’t many better examples of that in action that the former Paris Saint-Germain man in Belgium, as the home side only had two efforts on target the entire night.
Yet inside the final 10 Areola was up to the task of producing a stunning save to preserve the victory on a night where West Ham huffed and puffed for long periods but couldn’t get over the hill.
Once they finally did through Scamacca, who followed up his first Premier League goal with another important strike, it was all about maintaining that lead as it would have been a big ask to try to find a late winner in such a tight game.
The defence, with a back three of Angelo Ogbonna, Dawson and Johnson sent out by David Moyes, had offered a few glimmers of hope during the game, and it would have been a major psychological blow to concede at that point.
Coming off the morale-boosting league win over Wolves on Saturday (1 October) this tight victory at the top of Group B was the ideal follow-up, but it wouldn’t have been possible without the vital intervention of Areola late on.