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One to Watch: West Ham’s Issa Diop endures debut to forget vs Arsenal
Issa Diop’s Premier League debut did not go to plan as the Frenchman’s errors compounded to consign West Ham United to a 3-1 defeat away at Arsenal.
Overall, the Frenchman looked apprehensive as he struggled to deal most notably with the clever movement and speed of Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang.
His poor performance was rounded-off as he scored an unfortunate own goal mid-way through the second half that put West Ham 2-1 behind.
It must be stressed that it was unlucky, but it was the underline of a defensive performance that did not inspire confidence in Diop, who was picked in the wake of West Ham’s two defeats to start the season.
Early in the first half, the Frenchman’s blushes were spared when a botched clearance attempt ended with an Aaron Ramsey goal, only for the linesman to chalk it off for offside.
This was not the confident 21-year-old fans had been expecting to have arrived Toulouse after captaining the French side in recent seasons, particularly for a fee.
In possession, he fared only marginally better.
While he did manage to clear the lines – managing eight clearances in the game – his attempts to snuff out danger were unconvincing.
Aerially, arguably Diop’s strongest trait, he often cleared with meek headers back into dangerous positions where Arsenal could regain possession.
Concurrently, he only managed to complete 12 of his 17 pass attempts.
West Ham are not the easiest team to walk into and succeed in at the minute – especially playing away at the Emirates Stadium – but more will be expected of Diop if he hopes to maintain his spot in the team.