By Louis Nixon
**Freddie Potts made an appearance off the bench and it was arguably the decision that won West Ham the match, given the effect that he had once coming on**.
The academy prospect had a massive effect once coming on the pitch for the Hammers. For the first 10 minutes of the second half, the Hammers were under fire and facing far too many attacks from Burnley, and only because the defence was solid and had its lucky moments, such as Wan-Bissaka clearing it off the line and Hermansen’s reflexes, we managed to keep a clean sheet.
At this point of the game, many West Ham fans assumed that we’d become victim to our second-half struggles once again, but unlike Chelsea, Nuno learned, therefore not substituting Max Kilman on and instead bringing on Freddie Potts.
Potts’ appearance brought another man into the midfield and from that point onwards, we neutralised Burnley’s threats and completely turned the game on its head without sacrificing all of our attacking capabilities.
Freddie’s introduction allowed Fernandes to move the ball further forward and utilise his attacking capabilities more, while he and Soucek remained as holding midfielders, which prevented any further serious attacks.
As well as Potts’ good performance, we also need to give praise towards Nuno, seeing as he finally didn’t make the same mistake once again and learned from the Chelsea misery that we faced. Not substituting on a centre-half is the way forward and from now on, if we need to neutralise a game, I suspect Freddie Potts will be the man to help us.
Hopefully, against Manchester United we don’t come under fire once again and can continue on our first-half form in the second, in what’ll be yet another crucial game.