West Ham playmaker James Ward-Prowse cements Europa League creative prowess in Olympiakos win
West Ham avenged their Europa League matchday three loss to Olympiakos with a 1-0 home win over the Greek outfit this evening.
Lucas Paquetá netted the game’s only goal less than 20 minutes from time subsequently handing David Moyes’ men a third win of their campaign and leaving them as Group A leaders.
The victory also ensured West Ham will be playing European football in January as even if they don’t reach the Europa League last 16, they are guaranteed of finishing third in Group A and dropping into the Europa Conference League.
A third goal in as many European games for the Brazilian was made possible by West Ham’s creator-in-chief James Ward-Prowse; the former Southampton man produced a lovely dink over the back line for Paquetá who delightfully finished on the volley.
Ward-Prowse has been nothing short of a revelation for the Hammers since joining the Conference League champions. This latest effort saw him end a run of six matches without creating a goal in all competitions. He’s now produced seven assists in all competitions this season, with no Premier League player providing more.
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He ended this particular game having created no fewer than seven chances for his teammates which is the joint-most of any player in a single game across major European competitions this season. Ward-Prowse has also created 41 chances across all competitions this term, the joint most of any Premier League player (Bruno Fernandes also 41).
Consequently, no one playing in this season’s competition has been as giving, Ward-Prowse sits on a tournament-high 18 chances created with 15 of those coming from set-pieces. No one else is on double figures regarding that last metric.
Furthermore, he’s moved to four assists, leaving him in the lead to be crowned Europa League ‘assist king’.
