What a difference a week makes! West Ham claimed seven points in seven days after last weekend’s hard-fought draw at Liverpool and back-to-back home wins against Burnley and Hull lifted us to 13th in the Barclays Premier League.
With two goals in the week, captain Mark Noble played a huge part in the Hammers' upturn in results. The second of which, a successful penalty kick past Hull City’s David Marshall, continued his near flawless career record from the spot.
In fact, Noble first had the opportunity to extend his record on Wednesday night against Burnley. Whilst his penalty was saved, the Hammers skipper was able to poke in the re-bound to give us an all-important three points.
Even with his miss on Wednesday night, Mark has successfully converted 23 out of his last 25 penalty kicks in all competitions. Had it not been for Tom Heaton’s save, Nobes’ record would have stood at just one missed penalty in over seven-and-a-half years.
His first spot-kick in the Claret and Blue of West Ham came in a 1-0 victory over Birmingham City in August 2007. Since then, Noble has taken a total of 32 penalties in all competitions for West Ham – scoring 28 and missing just four: a conversion rate of 88%.
His penalties were the 54th and 57th of the current Premier League campaign and the third and fourth awarded to West Ham this season. Elsewhere, Manchester City, Tottenham Hotspur, Leicester City and Liverpool top the charts with five penalties awarded each. Meanwhile, at the other end of the spectrum, yesterday saw visitors Hull City concede their tenth penalty of the season – more than any other club.
As captain, Noble’s influence over the side is in plain sight on a weekly basis and outside of the penalty box, Noble was a key figure in the heart of midfield once again yesterday.
Noble completed 57 passes and 70 touches in the middle of the park – the most by any player, respectively. His 91 percent pass completion rate was bettered only by Pedro Obiang (94 percent) and Winston Reid (93 percent), proving once again his ability to pull the strings from deep is second to none.
In more advanced areas, Noble had just one shot on goal yesterday afternoon but, of course, it was the telling effort!
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