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On an off-day for both sets of forwards, West Ham United’s Man of the Match award was always likely to be contested by those who helped Nuno Espirito Santo record a fifth clean sheet in nine Premier League matches.
Chelsea loanee Axel Disasi proved a point to his parent club once again at Selhurst Park. Five clean sheets in nine at West Ham United, as Liam Rosenior finds himself on a run of one in eleven.
To quote Jamie Carragher, who knows a thing or two about life as a centre-half, Disasi and Konstantinos Mavropanos were a ‘joy to watch’ in South London. That is, of course, if well-placed defensive interventions and blooming defensive headers are your idea of Monday night fun.
Pick your Man of the Match after Palace 0-0 West Ham!
Photo by Henry Nicholls / AFP via Getty Images
Mateus Fernandes was handed Sky Sports’ Man of the Match gong following a performance of trademark guile and grit in the centre of the park.
Fernandes finished second in Hammers News’ own poll, however. Mavropanos secured 44 per cent of the vote against Wolves – two goals and a clean sheet in a 4-0 trouncing – and, at the time of writing, he secured 42 per cent this time around.
Konstantinos Mavropanos the West Ham United standout at Selhurst Park
Photo by Rob Newell – CameraSport via Getty Images
Finishing 12 per cent ahead of Fernandes among our TalkingPoint users, this means Mavropanos has claimed HammersNews’ very own Man of the Match award for the fourth Premier League match in a row; Man City, Aston Villa, Wolves and now Crystal Palace.
“The centre-backs were fantastic,” said Liverpool legend Carragher on a night when Oliver Glasner introduced two substitutes with 30 goals between them in 2025/26. “The amount of times Mavropanos and Disasi got their head on the ball… A joy to watch.
“West Ham supporters will be slightly disappointed, but it’s one of those results where, every day that passes, it will feel better. You’ve got to take the positives.
“Palace are in good form, a team that brought on [Jean-Philippe] Mateta and [Ismaila] Sarr. I think that bodes well for West Ham, that the two centre-backs were absolutely outstanding. They are going to need that if they are going to survive.
“They’ve got an away game out the way and they are in the same position.”
Where would West Ham be NOW if Disasi had joined last summer? 🤔
Maybe survival would have been achieved already…
Between them, Disasi and Mavropanos recorded no fewer than fifteen clearances.
Another masterful defensive performance came only a few days after Hammers News were informed, by a source close to the board, that West Ham remain calm about Mavropanos’ future at the London Stadium.
Reports from Germany had posited that Mavropanos was keen to leave amid interest from Borussia Dortmund.
Whatever the future holds, clearly, the speculation is having no effect on his performances…
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