How many penalty takers have the Irons used this season?
Well, we have had five different spot kick takers , after initially struggling to find someone we could rely on from 12 yards in the opening months of the campaign.
In the second half of this season, West Ham settled on Said Benrahma to do the honours and rightly so, scoring four of his five Premier League goals this season from the spot and 11 out of 11 in his professional career.
When Okumu handled Coufal’s early second half cross, and once referee Grinfeeld eventually gave the decision after yet another VAR wait, it seemed a formality that Benrahma would take the penalty last night.
However, after giving the ball away to start the move for Cuypers’ opener, Paqueta was keen to redeem himself and took the ball when the decision was given.
As manager David Moyes had his head in his hands seconds before he took it – showed that this particular decision was certainly not expected.
But just like he did against Leeds United in January to open his West Ham scoring account, with a shimmy and that stuttering run-up, Paqueta did enough to squeeze his effort into the top corner, too much for Roef to reach, despite guessing the wrong way.
Having suffered European quarter-final heartache last season with Olympique Lyonnais at the hands of his now current club West Ham, Paqueta certainly made up for his first half error, doing even more so when playing roles in goals three and four, with his penalty setting the tone for a second half spell of glory
Paqueta is finally showing us what he is capable of, it is just a pity that it has taken nearly all season though..