Everybody knows that West Ham have missed their main man Dimitri Payet.
They’ve also missed striker Sakho and winger Enner Valencia.
Payet and Valencia were excellent last night as the Hammers won 3-1 at Bournemouth after going a goal down.
Payet levelled the score with a fantastic 25-yard free-kick that went in off the underside.
Then his pinpoint cross from the right touchline was swept in by Valencia, who scored the third with an improbably fierce and dipping free-kick into the top near top corner of the net.
A right-footed kick taken from the left side, aimed for the nearside postage stamp, dipping wickedly and unreachably into the net.
Does Valencia do that every day in training? I will find out.
At St James’s Park, Wayne Rooney rolled back the years to 1966 .
That takes some doing by a lad who wasn’t born until 1985.
Rooney reminded me of Bobby Charlton because he was everywhere, doing wonderful things all over the pitch. From time to time since 2004 he has reminded me of Charlton and last night’s 3-3 draw at Newcastle was one of those games.
DON’T SAY : Wayne was due a good game.
DON’T SAY : He’s past it..
DEFINITELY don’t say: he only scores penalties these days.
DO SAY: United were leading 1-0 and 2-0 and 3-2 but only got a point.
DO SAY : It was a game of thrills and mistakes that ManU always looked like winning.
DO SAY: Rooney scored a penalty given generously by Mike Dean and then made the second goal for Jesse Lingard. The kid sprinted 50 yards to support Wayne, so the skipper reversed a two-yard pass right in front of him and Lingard slotted for 2-0.
Wijnaldum wears No.5 but plays No.10 and is the most under-rated footballer in the Premier League,
Running onto an inviting knockdown, he demonstrated superb technique with a right-foot shot that flew low past De Gea into the corner of the goal for 1-2.
It was 1-2 at half-time and there were no more goals until a penalty in 67 where Smalling wrestled with Mitrovic, who took the kick and made it 2-2.
12 minutes later sub Memphis hit a shot that rebounded from left back Paul Dummett’s foot to Rooney in the D. He hit a screamer for 2-3 and by then it should have been all over.
But when Smalling’s header bounced to Dummett on the edge of the box the defender rifled home a fierce shot that went in off the elbow of…. Smalling.
Six goals shared but another two points dropped by England’s biggest club.
We had all forgotten that Louis van Gaal was the Barcelona manager in September 1997 when the elastically electric Tino Asprilla used his head to score a hat-trick in a 3-2 win for Newcastle.