Adama Traore has had a slow start to his West Ham career, but against Brentford, we saw an Adama Traore who shone under the lights.

Adama Traore has only made the headlines for the Hammers after his brawl against Chelsea, but against our West London rivals, Brentford, he proved why Nuno was so desperate to sign him in the January window.

Adama Traore announced himself against Brentford straight away as the game kicked off, he began his lunges towards the defenders. He often dropped back to defend and then rushed with the ball forward once he mixed it off his opponents. He was relentless, he was thorough, he persistently chased the Bees, and eventually, Adama stung them first as he won a penalty brilliantly through a well-thought-out play.

After achieving a penalty, which Jarrod Bowen converted, Adama continued to prove to be a threat until he was dragged off for Summerville. He made five defensive contributions, and overall, he seemed more comfortable, more natural on the left-hand side and looked eager to pick up the ball and dribble to the middle of the park to either pick out a player or go for a strike, of which he did once that narrowly went past the post.

Adama Traore was substituted off at half-time for Summerville, as Nuno wanted to fight fire with fire seeing as Brentford played with their full strength team, not to mention, it was also considered that Nuno wanted to protect Adama for potential of future games and given his lack of game time recently, it would’ve been a huge ask to continue on in what was such an intensive, end-to-end match.

With the rumours circulating that Crysencio Summerville might have secured a nasty injury with scans ongoing behind the scenes, Adama Traore might be called up to play on the left-hand side for the future games, especially this Saturday against Manchester City, where his pace and physicality might be needed in order to help bolster Nuno’s chances at fighting the lead challengers.   

With potential injuries in the horizon, Adama Traore might be another play that could be vital for the Hammers towards the end of the season, there’s a handful of intense fixtures that lay ahead and the Hammers will have to try to win with every one and with the confidence that players accumulate, that could be a leading factor as to guiding West Ham out the relegation zone.