Squawka Player Of The Weekend – Mamadou Sakho

Liverpool have won twice, convincingly, since their terrible 3-1 defeat at Hull. That defeat has been put to bed due to consecutive home wins that have pushed the Reds back up to second in the Premier League table. One Liverpool player truly stood-out against West Ham, he was in fact the Squawka Player of the Weekend, Mamadou Sakho.

Sakho was recalled to the starting line-up for the first time since the defeat at Arsenal over a month ago and didn’t let anyone down. The Frenchman’s last competitive match was his country’s World Cup qualifier against Ukraine in which he scored one and was key in another goal as he led the French to Brazil next summer.

Sakho was brought in for his aerial ability against a tough, direct West Ham side. He was fantastic, winning six headed duels and two out of three of his tackles. He even drew one foul in.

The tall defender was also busy in defence and was a key reason as to why Liverpool were so solid. He made 13 clearances which was one of the highest in the Premier League over the weekend. Sakho also made three interceptions and made two important blocks. He was like a wall at the back for Liverpool and, apart from one chance where he left Maiga get in front of him, he was solid and didn’t give the Hammers a sniff.

Another impressive aspect with his performance was his impeccable passing. Sakho misplaced one pass from the 35 he attempted – a long ball. Not only did he provide defensive solidity but he strode forward and brought the ball out from the back to give more support in attack. This is proven by the fact that 82.9% of his passes went forwards.

Sakho also contributed further in attack by scoring a goal, his first for the club. It was his only shot which gave him a shot accuracy of 100% – not the most telling statistic but something for him to brag about to his teammates.

Andre Schurrle was Sakho’s closest contender in the league for Squawka’s Player of the Weekend with 79 points, but even his two goals were not good enough to beat Sakho who was absolutely superb at Anfield on Saturday.