Under the lights at the London Stadium, West Ham United achieved their first win of the new season, besting Huddersfield Town 2-0 thanks to goals from Pedro Obiang and Andre Ayew.
The match didn’t just mark a return to winning ways for Slaven Bilic’s men. It also marked the return to action for Andy Carroll, with the striker making his first league appearance for the Irons since April.
What a return to action is was too! Carroll was almost unplayable up front for the Hammers, bringing the ball out of the air with apparent ease, linking the play superbly and proving to be a menace that the Huddersfield defence had no answer for.
Thirteen of those 15 duels were aerial battles. Unsurprisingly this was the most of any player in the Premier League this weekend, but very impressively it is also the most won by an individual player in any Premier League match this season.
Although Carroll didn’t score it cannot be said that the striker didn’t give his all. The No9 registered six shots in the match, once again the joint-most of any player in this group of Premier League fixtures, across all 20 teams.
That quantity also puts Carroll second in the list for most shots per 90 minutes played in the Premier League this season, a number bettered only by Tottenham’s Harry Kane.
Fans were thrilled to see Carroll back in action and the forward’s quality shone through on his return to the field.
The attacker linked well with Chicharito and Michail Antonio, caused a host of problems and gave Huddersfield a tough time of it.
Carroll’s presence and form could be crucial come Saturday as West Ham look to retain their good form away at West Brom.