It’s not often you see a 1-0 victory against the Premier League’s 18th-placed side celebrated by the home support of a 60,000 seater stadium like their club has just won the FA Cup, but there’s been nothing usual about West Ham’s first season at the London Stadium.
For starters, the Hammers have played practically their entire debut campaign at the new arena without a resident right-back, which has seen everybody from former World Cup winner Alvaro Arbeloa to midfield powerhouse Cheikhou Kouyate and club top scorer Michail Antonio fill in at No.2 with limited degrees of success.
The real frustration for West Ham fans is the fact Slaven Bilic has had a right-back at his disposal for the last few months in the form of Sam Byram, who showed the Irons gaffer exactly what his side have been missing in defence with a solid and momentarily heroic display against Swansea City.
Byram’s last minute block received the reception of a forty-yard thunderbolt from his team-mates, who knew in that moment that they’d won the three points to ensure a relatively comfortable end to the season and potentially even keep their under-fire gaffer in the job for 2017/18.
But as our infographic shows, that was by no means the 23-year-old’s only noteworthy contribution. He finished up with an impressive four tackles and three interceptions – registering the second-most of any player involved in the match on those fronts – whilst weighing in at the other end with one created chance via an accurate cross.
He also made vital contributions to all round play, completing the third-most touches of the ball of any player, 69, which all makes you wonder why Bilic has started Bryam in just nine of the 19 matchdays he’s been available for this season (according to Transfermarkt). Should Bilic’s judgement be questioned for his seeming lack of faith in the former Leeds defender?
