Incredible Alphonse Areola stats emerge as West Ham knock Man City out of Carabao Cup
By Adwaidh Rajan
Alphonse Areola was one of the standout stars as West Ham booked a place in the Carabao Cup quarter-finals by overcoming defending champions Manchester City 5-3 on penalties at London Stadium on Wednesday night.
The two teams were unable to break the deadlock in the 90 minutes of the fourth round tie before Said Benrahma slotted home the decisive fifth penalty after a miss from City youngster Phil Foden.
One player who grabbed the spotlight during the knockout fixture was Hammers goalkeeper Areola as the French World Cup winner made a string of saves to keep his side alive in the cup tie before seeing them through in the shootout.
Incredibly, Areola who made seven saves against Pep Guardiola’s side is yet to concede a single goal in his fledgling West Ham career after starting four matches this season for David Moyes’ outfit (via Manchester Evening News).
This includes their impressive win over Manchester United in the previous round of the Carabao Cup as well as Europa League victories over SK Rapid Wien and KRC Genk.
He had to make 16 saves in those games to add the four clean sheets to his name and is soon turning into a fan favourite at the London Stadium after he arrived from Paris.
Areola on course to usurp Fabianski as No. 1
West Ham had acquired the France international on a loan deal from Paris Saint-Germain last summer after the custodian had impressed on another loan spell at Fulham during the 2020-21 season.
Although he was expected to compete with Lukasz Fabianski for a starting role at West Ham, Areola has had to wait for his chance at London, as Moyes has preferred to go with the veteran Polish shot-stopper in the league games.
However, it looks like 28-year-old Areola has now proven himself as a worthy heir to Fabianski’s No. 1 shirt and should soon be starting under the West Ham goal in place of his ageing counterpart.
It is safe to say Moyes has a selection headache in the goalkeeping department ahead of Sunday’s visit to Villa Park to face Aston Villa in the Premier League.
And if West Ham can strike a deal to buy Areola permanently from the Ligue 1 giants, the club will have a goalkeeper that they can rely on for years to come.
In other West Ham news, this is what Michail Antonio said to Cristian Romero in the win over Tottenham.
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