David Moyes believes Emerson Palmieri put in one of his best performances for West Ham United in the draw against Aston Villa.
The Hammers went behind in the first-half of Sunday’s Premier League clash when an Ollie Watkins header gave Villa the lead. But the home side were back on level terms when Said Benrahma drilled in the equaliser from the penalty spot less than ten minutes later.
The draw was enough to lift Moyes’ side up to 17th after they dropped into the relegation zone a day before when Bournemouth pulled off a surprise 1-0 win against Liverpool, but only goal difference is keeping them out of the dreaded bottom three.
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Sunday’s draw with Villa was the first time this season Moyes has been able to include all eight of his summer signings in a matchday squad, with January arrival Danny Ings also involved.
Of the eight, Alphonse Areola, Emerson, Nayef Aguerd, Thilo Kehrer and Lucas Paqueta all started, with Flynn Downes, Gianluca Scamacca and Maxwel Cornet on the bench.
Emerson, who West Ham signed from London rivals Chelsea in the summer, was singled out by Moyes, who said: “I don’t know about you but I thought Emerson actually played very well today, I thought it was probably one of his best games for us as well.”
Although West Ham claimed a 2-0 win away at AEK Larnaca in the Europa Conference League on Thursday, Moyes believes he saw a better performance from his players in the 1-1 draw against Villa.
“I think there were good things about our performance,” Moyes continued. “We had a good result in midweek [against Larnaca] but I didn’t like the performance. [Against Aston Villa] I don’t hugely like the result but I certainly thought the performance was much better than what we’ve been showing.”
West Ham will look to secure their spot in the Europa Conference League quarter-finals later this week when Larnaca head to London for the second leg. With Manchester City in FA Cup action this weekend forthcoming, West Ham’s next Premier League fixture will not take place until Sunday, April 2, with relegation rivals Southampton visiting the London Stadium.
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