OPINION
West Ham lost 1-0 to bitter rivals Tottenham Hotspur at the London Stadium on Saturday afternoon, and the Hammers will be licking their wounds after a painful defeat.
It was a game in which many would say Manuel Pellegrini’s side deserved at least a point, with their lack of killer instinct in the final third costing them in the end.
One player who will actually be nursing his injuries is Andriy Yarmolenko, who was forced from the pitch after 40 minutes with a nasty-looking ankle injury.
The Ukraine international went down with no one around him and screamed out in pain as he lay on the floor, with a stretcher needed to withdraw him from the action with a possible rupture of his achilles.
He was replaced by 20-year-old youngster Grady Diangana, who put in a hard-working if ineffective display in his place.
Diangana earned his West Ham debut against Macclesfield earlier this season, scoring two goals in an 8-0 win, and looks to be the next academy player in line to break into the first-team.
The 5ft 11in speed machine [Transfermarkt] may now get the chance to do that earlier than he would have expected in what could be an opportunity of a lifetime for the attacker.
With Yarmolenko looking likely to be out of action for at least a month after that nasty-looking blow, Pellegrini will be looking for someone to step up in his place.
The obvious candidate is Robert Snodgrass, who played from the start on Saturday due to an injury to Pedro Obiang, but there is no reason why Diangana cannot push to make that position his own.
The likelihood is that Obiang will be out for another game or two, meaning that spot is still up for grabs, and a couple of good performances put him firmly in the frame for that bona-fide breakthrough.
Diangana is not likely to get such a big opportunity to become a regular for West Ham for a long while, and he must now take this chance with both hands.