OPINION
West Ham United were resigned to an agonising 2-2 draw with Leicester on Saturday afternoon after Harvey Barnes scored a stoppage time equaliser.
Michail Antonio initially put the Hammers ahead in the first half before Jamie Vardy equalised at the back post, and just when Lucas Perez thought he had won the game, Barnes broke the hearts of many Irons supporters.
Manuel Pellegrini no doubt learned a lot about his players after the draw, before they face Tottenham next Saturday.
Here, This is Futbol has rounded up the three things learned about West Ham’s draw v the Foxes:
Masuaku kept up the good work
Arthur Masuaku stepped up to the plate in the 2-1 defeat of Manchester United last Saturday – arguably his best game in a West Ham shirt – and he continued that trend in this draw with Leicester. He was magnificent all game, and this is not great news for Aaron Cresswell in the slightest.
Masuaku playing at this level is going to keep his teammate out of the line-up, but Pellegrini will be over the moon with such a display.
Balbuena must be axed
Fabian Balbuena was not at his best against Leicester, and that is largely down to his error that led to Leicester scoring their first goal.
The £40,000-a-week [Spotrac] player must be axed as soon as possible, as it would then give 6’4″ giant (source: Transfermarkt) Issa Diop the chance to get a game under his belt before the end of the season.
Those sorts of errors are not good enough, and Balbuena no doubt recognises that.
Arnautovic looked a bit brighter
Marko Arnautovic put a shift in for the first time in a long while, and this is something that will certainly excite the fans. He missed the last defeat last weekend due to illness, but he made up for it with a decent work rate here.
There were some chances that he could have converted, but this is promising from the Austrian international – fingers crossed that he can maintain it.