Mohammed Kudus maximising chance to nail down regular West Ham spot
In previous years, any injury to Michail Antonio would have been detrimental to West Ham. The Hammers have sought to ease the burden on the 33-year-old, yet even the high-profile captures of Sebastien Haller and Gianluca Scamacca, to name two, have fallen by the wayside as David Moyes has so often return edto his tried and tested system with Antonio leading the charge.
The Jamaica international may not be the most prolific striker in the game but he makes up for that with his incredible workrate and physical presence in the final third. On a good day, no defender wants to come up against Antonio. However, a knee injury sustained on international duty forced David Moyes' hand. While the the club were boosted by news that the problem wasn't as severe as initially feared, Antonio hasn't made an appearance for the east London side since featuring from the bench against Nottingham Forest last month.
In that time, Jarrod Bowen has been tasked with leading the charge for West Ham, bar the 2-1 win over Burnley that Danny Ings featured from the outset in the former's absence. Antonio's injury, though, could well be considered a blessing in disguise. The Hammers went on a bit of a spending splurge over the summer following their Europa Conference League success and Declan Rice's monster move to Arsenal, with James Ward-Prowse, Edson Alvarez, Konstantinos Mavropanos and Mohammed Kudus all making the move to the London Stadium over the summer.
Of those new additions, it was the capture of Kudus that really caught the eye. Both Chelsea and Arsenal had been credited with an interest in the Ghana international earlier in the year, yet it was the Hammers who won the race to secure his services. In recent weeks, Kudus has been proving his worth and then some for Moyes' side.
Antonio's injury and Bowen's subsequent redployment opened up the chance for Kudus to stake a claim for a regular spot in the West Ham XI and he has grabbed the opportunity with both hands. Factor in just starts, and Kudus is West Ham's best rated player (7.43) in the Premier League this season. Despite only starting five of the Hammers' 14 league games, only Bowen (8) and Tomas Soucek (4) have scored more goals for Moyes' side than the former Ajax man (3) in England's top tier this term.
23 successful dribbles is more than any other player for the club, and what's all the more notable is that Kudus has only registered 545 minutes of Premier League action for West Ham. Whereas Bowen is a goal threat from wide when used from the right, the Hammers have the relevant drive to peg opponents back when Kudes features out wide. With Lucas Paqueta shining on the opposite flank, it's no wonder just 23% of their attacks come through the middle of the pitch, the joint lowest in the 2023/24 Premier League campaign, as West Ham look to their two quality widemen to stretch defences.
With a pair of direct attacking outlets down the wings now, West Ham are far more unpredictable going forward since Kudus came into the side. While he hasn't been the creative force some may have expected when he joined from Ajax over the summer, the willingness to cut infield from the right flank benefits the overlapping Vladimir Coufal. Kudus' desire to drag markers out of position opens up space for the Hammers right-back to get forward and work his way into dangerous areas to hurt opponents.
Coufal ranks second for key passes (17) of all West Ham players this season, and ninth for total crosses excluding corners in the division (43) and with Kudus willing to carry possession in the middle of the pitch, the 31-year-old has the time and space to pick his pass. As such, no West Ham player has registered more assists than Coufal (5) in the Premier League this season, that ranking second of all defenders in the top-flight of English football.
So for all of West Ham's efforts to sign another striker to eventually succeed Antonio, Moyes had one on the books all along. Bowen is well on course to enjoy his most prolific Premier League season to date and a change in position should see him leapfrog his 12-goal haul from 2021/22 in due course. Circumstance may have paved the way for Kudus to really break into the side but Bowen's move up front has allowed the high-profile summer addition to nail down that right wing spot. After a rocky patch, the Hammers are steadily climbing the table again, with Kudus' rise to first choice on the right proving key.
