West Ham boss Nuno Espírito Santo has lavished praise on a Hammers academy graduate who possesses “so much talent”, and one who ex-midfielder Michael Carrick also holds in very high esteem.
Saturday’s clash between West Ham and Burnley at the London Stadium could be seen as a relegation six-pointer already, with just three points separating the two struggling sides as both are likely to be battling the drop come May.
The hosts sit 18th with just two wins from ten matches, while Burnley sit a place above with just one more victory to show for their efforts since promotion from the Championship.
West Ham finally ended their miserable run last weekend with a morale-boosting victory at the expense of Newcastle.
The Hammers came from behind to defeat Eddie Howe’s side 3-1 at home, with Lucas Paqueta, an own goal from Sven Botman and Tomas Soucek securing a much-needed three points and Nuno’s first win since taking charge.
Sunderland 3-0 West Ham
West Ham 1-5 Chelsea
Nottingham Forest 0-3 West Ham
West Ham 0-3 Tottenham
West Ham 1-2 Crystal Palace
Everton 1-1 West Ham
Arsenal 2-0 West Ham
West Ham 0-2 Brentford
Leeds 2-1 West Ham
West Ham 3-1 Newcastle
Remarkably, over half of West Ham’s shots on target since Nuno’s arrival came in that Newcastle win, nine out of 16, while Burnley have attempted the fewest shots out of any Premier League team this season, according to The Analyst.
Nuno’s side will be desperate to claim back-to-back home victories for the first time since February and climb out of the relegation zone, and history actually favours West Ham.
West Ham are unbeaten in their last six top flight meetings with Burnley, three wins and three draws, but more impressively, the east Londoners haven’t lost any of their last eleven top-flight matches against Burnley when scoring at least one goal (11v11).
Away from the stats, Nuno finally found a winning formula against Newcastle that gifts West Ham plenty of encouragement heading into this weekend.
A key part of their impressive performance last time out was the introduction of highly-rated young midfielder Freddie Potts, who was finally handed his first Premier League start after many calls to do so.
The 22-year-old, who spent the last two seasons playing regularly on loan at Wycombe and Portsmouth, put in an excellent display next to Paqueta at the heart of West Ham’s engine room, and he’s surely in line to start again when West Ham meet Burnley.
Nuno praises West Ham youngster Freddie Potts ahead of Burnley
Speaking in his pre-match press conference, Nuno was effusive in his praise for Potts after his Newcastle display, but insists the West Ham gem still has some way to go.
Nuno isn’t the only man to stand up and take notice of Potts’ performance either, with Carrick explaining how “massively impressed” he was by the Englishman on Match of the Day.
Potts looks like the latest in a fairly steady line of exciting West Ham talents to come through in recent years, and going by his last outing, 25/26 could be his breakout campaign.