Sometimes, a few clips from a behind-the-scenes shooting drill can remind you just how talented Premier League footballers – even those stuck on the bench at West Ham United – really are.
Ahead of the Hammers’ trip to Anfield on Saturday afternoon, Nuno Espirito Santo, Paco Jemez and a smiling Gerard Prenderville could be seen putting the first-team squad through their paces.
Now, if we asked our Hammers News readers to single out the one player they would like to see a late chance fall to tomorrow, most would probably say Jarrod Bowen or Crysencio Summerville.
Can you work out the THREE missing players from our last win at Anfield? 🔴 🕊️
A clue: our striker scored in stoppage time!
Liverpool 0-3 West Ham missing players
Bowen missed a great chance to win the game as West Ham United played out a 0-0 draw with AFC Bournemouth last time out, but the captain should still hit double figures for a third straight Premier League campaign.
And Summerville may be Nuno’s 2026 version of Carlos Tevez, at least according to former manager Alan Pardew.
But while they are far from regular goalscorers, Ollie Scarles, Kyle Walker-Peters and particularly Max Kilman can clearly strike a ball too.
Max Kilman scores a stunner as West Ham United prepare for Liverpool clash
Max Kilman playing for West Ham against Leeds.
Photo by Richard Sellers/Sportsphoto/Allstar via Getty Images
Scarles and Walker-Peters could be seen firing emphatic finishes past a helpless goalkeeper as part of a shooting drill at Rush Green, in clips provided by the club’s official YouTube channel.
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Scarles hasn’t even scored a senior goal. Walker-Peters has just one in a West Ham shirt, meanwhile, coming against Burnley in November. Yet, admittedly without the pressure gameday brings, and without a defender in front of them, the accuracy of their finishes really highlights the colossal gulf between a Premier League footballer and us mere mortals at a Sunday League session.
The spinning, dipping volley Kilman rifled beyond Lukasz Fabianski, meanwhile, had Ezra Mayers’ with his hands on his head, Mateus Fernandes raising his arms in disbelief, and one Hammers teammate reacting with a shellshocked ‘wow’.
On the turn, Kilman lashed a bouncing ball across Fabianski and into the far corner. It was a strike even Bowen and Summerville may be hard pushed to replicate.
Only two Liverpool stars have a HIGHER FotMob rating than Matty! 🤯
Surely you wouldn't swap him for Gravenberch?
West Ham United's Mateus Fernandes celebrates scoring his side's third goal during the Premier League match between West Ham United and Sunderland at London Stadium on January 24, 2026 in London, England.
Nuno Espirito Santo needs a result away at Anfield
None of Kilman, Walker-Peters or Scarles are expected to start against Liverpool, though. Aaron Wan-Bissaka was ‘excellent’ against Bournemouth last time out. His fabled one-v-one defending will likely come in extremely handy at Anfield.
El Hadji Malick Diouf provided his first assist of the Nuno era away to Burnley recently, meanwhile. Despite Scarles’ impressive run of games during Diouf’s Africa Cup of Nations-enforced absence, the Senegal international brings a creativity and a quality few can match when storming down the left-hand flank.
Diouf very nearly set up a winner for Callum Wilson in that Cherries stalemate six days ago.
Nuno faces a dilemma with Wilson, too. West Ham won three of the four league matches in which Nuno selected two centre-forwards from the start. With Pablo Felipe unavailable again this weekend, the Hammers boss must decide whether or not to bring Wilson back into the team or to push Mateus Fernandes further forward once more.
As for Kilman, the much-maligned centre-back has not even played a single minute of Premier League action since his nightmare cameo in the 3-2 defeat by Chelsea.
Nuno even admitted introducing Kilman was a ‘mistake’, in the aftermath. The Hammers were leading 2-1 at Stamford Bridge when he entered the fray and conceded the equaliser almost immediately.
If Jean-Clair Todibo cannot force his way back in ahead of Disasi and Konstantinos Mavropanos, then Kilman has next to no chance, no matter how many training ground stunners he might score.
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