West Ham United fans were left singing the praises of Fabian Balbuena after they managed to secure an unlikely victory at Stamford Bridge against Chelsea on Saturday afternoon.
The Hammers managed to take the lead after the restart through Aaron Cresswell, which helped to lift some of the pressure from Manuel Pellegrini’s shoulders as they head into a crucial and hectic festive period (BBC).
The Irons certainly appeared to step up to the plate for their trip across the capital, however Balbuena’s performance was one that seemed to leave plenty of fans salivating at the lips at the full-time whistle.
Indeed, it is not hard to see why when taking into account his individual stats from the game, as the data compiled by WhoScored would back up any excitement they had regarding the Paraguay international.
The 28-year-old was a threat in all areas of the field on Saturday, as he had a shot on target, created a key pass, won two aerial duels, made one tackle, two interceptions and made six clearances as he scored a match rating of 7.62 – just David Martin scoring higher.
Fans took to Twitter to gush over the performance of Balbuena, with some even suggesting that Issa Diop could have his work cut out in order to try and force his way back into Pellegrini’s first-team.
Here are just some of their reactions…
Balbuena’s forehead is genuinely like a magnet to the ball. I don’t think he lost a header today, cleared every cross and won every aerial duel. Incredible performance from the general
— ⚒ COYIrons ⚒ (@COYIrons_com) November 30, 2019
What a performance from this man today! Back to his very best. Thought Ogbonna and Balbuena were also superb! @Aaron_Cresswell had a great game and what a goal too! Really hard to pick a man of the match but for pure sentiment got to be @dmartin_gk https://t.co/Vc1FWxWbqH
— ExWHUemployee (@ExWHUemployee) November 30, 2019
Balbuena and Ogbonna were fantastic today. Great understanding of each others game.
Diop has a lot of work to do to get his starting place back.
— Wᴇsᴛ Hᴀᴍ Sᴏᴄɪᴀʟ (@WestHamSocial) November 30, 2019
Defence looked so much more confident with Martin in net. Balbuena & Ogbonna were outstanding
— West Ham Transfers (@westhamtransfer) November 30, 2019
Thought everyone played their socks off today but especially Rice, Antonio, Balbuena and Ogbonna, all were outstanding and never put a foot wrong.
— TheWestHamWayCoUk (@WestHamWaycouk) November 30, 2019
Would Diop get straight back to the team after suspending @ExWHUemployee? I’d give this Og/Balbuena a go. They were immense today.
— Hammers Brasil (@hammers_br) November 30, 2019
Balbuena and Ogbonna need to start next week.
It honestly worked so well.
Ogbonna is a different animal this season.#WHUFC— Louis (@louis_warwick) November 30, 2019
West Ham fans, what did you make of Balbuena’s performance? Let us know below!
