West Ham currently sit on fourth in the Premier League so far this season, exceeding all expectations. There has been many stand out performers this campaign, including Aaron Cresswell who has been one of the first names on the team sheet for David Moyes.
Cresswell is yet to miss a minute of Premier League action for the Hammers playing in all nine games and is crucial to the way manager, David Moyes, sets up his side. When playing a back four, Cresswell plays in his normal left-back role, however, when playing a back three, Moyes uses the 31-year-old as a left-sided centre back. Cresswell has excelled in both positions and he is defensively solid. He has helped the side to three clean sheets in nine games in the Premier League but some of his most notable work has been in attack. Cresswell has provided one assist and has also scored a goal this season.
Let’s take a look at his stats in this season:
Aaron Cresswell has always been a threat for teams with his goalwards approach. Despite being a defender, Cresswell has high attacking numbers in the final third. Most of his attacking metrics are better than the median league value. Cresswell has a very high dribble success rate of 72.73% and is in the 53rd percentile in the league for the same. The English fullback has also had 33.33% of his total shots on target.
Cresswell has attempted round 54 passes per 90 minutes. Out of this average of 54 passes, he has attempted 23 forwards passes per game and is in the 91st percentile for the same. He has attempted 231 forwards passes so far in the season and has completed 183 of those passes. The fullback has a sweet left foot and can deliver inch perfect crosses to his teammates inside the penalty area. He has attempted an average of 3.38 crosses into the box.
The above visual shows us the passes that Cresswell has completed so far in the nine games he has played. West Ham have been a massive threat from set-pieces. Cresswell’s delivery has been one of the reasons for that success. West Ham have the likes of Angelo Ogbonna, Declan Rice, Michail Antonio and Tomas Soucek all in the box but the superb delivery from the left-back is why those aerial threats have benefitted so much. When Cresswell joins the attack, it is very difficult for the opposition to close him down and he can cross the ball into an effective area of the pitch. Most of the passes he has played into the penalty area have a high expected threat.
While Cresswell has been effective for West Ham going forward, he has also contributed towards the defensive work that they have done. Cresswell has a high number of interceptions that he has made inside his own half. Most of the interceptions that he has completed outside the penalty area are from the passes the opposition players attempted in the final third. While he has more interceptions made when the player was on the ball inside the penalty area.
Cresswell has been highly involved in winning back the ball for his team from the various defensive as well as aerial duels he has attempted. The fullback has won more number of ground duels as he plays higher up the pitch and tries to win back the ball in the opposition half. Although winning aerial duels is not his strongest suit, he has won a number of aerial duels inside the penalty area when the opposition has a corner or from the crosses they play into the penalty area.
This season has been a wonderful start for Cresswell and co to the Premier League season as they have been playing some impressive football and the fans will just be hoping that there’s more to come. West Ham have become a tough opposition for any team in the Premier League, be it the top six teams or even the teams in the bottom half of the table.
