**Premier League fans rave about West Ham midfielder Freddie Potts after his sensational performance against Newcastle United.**
After weeks and weeks of West Ham’s midfield getting slated, Nuno finally picked the trio all Hammers fans wanted to see, and Freddie Potts, along with Lucas Paqueta and Matheus Fernandes lit up the London Stadium on Sunday evening.
Paqueta’s goal and all-round play and Fernandes’ passing and quality on the ball have been highlighted, but it’s Freddie Potts that’s receiving all the plaudits online, from pundits and from the fans, and rightly so.
The 22-year-old FINALLY made his first Premier League start for the club and he looked like a seasoned veteran. He looked unbelievable, not only did he not look out of place in a midfield alongside Brazil and Italy international starters, he was better than them.
Potts had everything West Ham have been missing in midfield for over a year now. He is calm, quality defensively and has excellent positionally. He had an 85% pass accuracy, won 5 duels, 6 clearances, 4 final third entries, made two key passes and wasn’t dribbled past once.
What stood out the most about Potts was his quality in the duels we haven’t had that in midfield for such a long time and it showed. He has a knack of anticipating the second ball – and more often than not he comes away with the ball. He won four of his five ground duels against Newcastle, completing three tackles.
Not only can Potts win the ball in midfield, he also does exactly what you want from a DM and more. He keeps the ball ticking, can pass both short and long, created chances for his teammates and put a four crosses into the Newcastle box.
The third Potts to make it in a claret and blue shirt could have capped off his Sunday in a perfect way by scoring his first goal for his boyhood club.
He thought he did as the London Stadium erupted with joy in the 68th minute when Potts smashed the ball into the roof of the net from close range, but it was disallowed due to a narrow Soucek offside in the buildup.
The fact it’s taken this long for Potts to get a chance from the start is pretty embarrassing for both Potter and Nuno. Deciding to start players like Andy Irving and Guido Rodriguez over this academy talent with everything to his game was crazy.
Now Nuno has given him a chance and he shined and won Sky Sports player of the match, the Portuguese manager would be a fool to not make him one of the first names on the team sheet in the heart of midfield.