Andy Carroll, the big, beautiful man.
If there was a game in which a West Ham player needed to show they really, really cared about playing for our famous colours, it was against Crystal Palace on Saturday.
The players as a group did just that, with a wonderful 3-0 win over Big Sam’s Palace to prove that the club is much better off with those who don’t have the commitment required to succeed at West Ham.
Andy Carroll was the man of the moment on Saturday with the best goal the Premier League will witness in 16/17, executing a perfect bicycle kick from Michail Antonio’s cross to put us 2-0 in the second half.
It was a moment of pure brilliance and one that summed up the monumental performance the players put in to ensure the week’s events leading up to the game were forgotten almost as quickly as they had developed.
The strike was so good, in fact, that Betway have made it the 7/4 favourite to win the BBC Match of the Day Goal of the Season award.
Some will say Olivier Giroud’s scorpion kick goal v Crystal Palace was better, others will lobby for Henrikh Mkhitaryan’s scorpion goal v Sunderland, but neither required the same amount of sheer brilliance and skill as Carroll’s.
Surely it has to be crowned the best?