Last night saw Ryan Fredericks return to action in brilliant style. The 26-year-old right-back played out the full 90 minutes against Liverpool in a 1-1 draw. It was just the defender’s fifth Premier League appearance of the season and his first since recovering from an ankle injury that’s kept him out since November.
Tough game to come back to after injury, hopefully I’ve shaken off some cobwebs solid performance from the boys all put in a shift! . Delighted to be back out there playing for this club
— Ryan Fredericks (@RyanFredericks_) 4 February 2019
Despite the fact it’s been almost three months since his last Premier League outing, Fredericks looked like he’d been in the team for weeks with his performance. The ex-Fulham man made himself a problem for the Reds all night with his ability to run at them down the right-flank, nullifying Liverpool’s Andrew Robertson and providing an outlet on the night where everything seemed to go right for the Hammers.
The only that Fredericks needed to make it a perfect evening was all three points, and the Irons should have come away with them were it not for a dubious Liverpool goal and a couple of missed chances. However, getting away from the result, Fredericks performance was something to celebrate and the supporters will be delighted to see a real fight for the right-back role between Fredericks and the veteran Pablo Zabaleta.
You can read the Hammers’ thoughts on Fredericks’ return here:
Unreal performance
— Taylor Harris ⚒ (@Taylor_Harrisss) February 4, 2019
Fantastic performance like a right footed Ashley Cole
— Rob Waldon WHUFC (@RobWaldon) 4 February 2019
Good to have you! Played well tonight mate. Well done!
— Claire Hillman (@silvervexcebo) 4 February 2019
Quality performance mate! Glad we are seeing more of you
— West Ham COYI (@TheHammers_) February 4, 2019
https://twitter.com/Injuries_WHU/status/1092558067726721024
MOTM contender
— Russell Dew (@russelldew) 5 February 2019
https://twitter.com/bwebb26/status/1092557589412499459
Great performance RF . Proud of the team as a whole
— Jay Rudd (Hammer) (@JayRudd4) 5 February 2019
Absolutely brilliant tonight Ryan. Zabs got so work to do to get back in!
— Dave Lambourne (@Lambo1966) 4 February 2019
The Hammers were buzzing with Fredericks’ Liverpool display and will be hoping he can make yesterday’s display his bench mark.
