West Ham United picked up a massive three points on Sunday afternoon as they defeated relegation rivals Southampton 1-0 at the London Stadium.
The performance was far from comprehensive against the Premier League's bottom side but David Moyes' side did enough to secure the win, with a result which moves them out of the relegation places and puts them a step closer to safety.
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Nayed Aguerd handed the Hammers the lead slightly against the run of play, as he was left unchallenged to head home Thilo Kehrer's free-kick, with Jarrod Bowen close to making it 2-0 when his right-footed curler hit the crossbar.
Moyes' side lived dangerously at times, with Lukasz Fabianski producing a strong hand to deny Romain Perraud, while he had his crossbar to thank for keeping out Paul Onuachu's header.
While Aguerd grabbed an impressive goal and clean sheet for the Hammers, it was arguably Lucas Paqueta who was Moyes' star performer on Sunday with attention deserving of diverting away from the backline.
The Brazilian has come in for his fair share of criticism since signing from Lyon last summer and was expected to be a creative force in the Hammers' midfield.
However, the club-record signing put everything on the line for the Hammers in a gritty win on Sunday, producing the most tackles by a West Ham player (10) in a Premier League game since 2012, which saw Opta Joe label him "relentless" on Twitter.
As per SofaScore, the 25-year-old would earn an impressive 7.1/10 rating for his performance, registering 78 touches and completing an impressive 40 passes, which was a slight improvement on the 38.3 he has averaged in the Premier League so far this campaign.
He also completed 100% of his dribbles and won a remarkable 15 duels, more than Declan Rice and Tomas Soucek combined, emphasising just how strong the Brazil international was in Moyes' midfield.
It was almost completely out of character for Paqueta to register ten tackles in just one game, as he has averaged just 2.2 per game in the top flight so far this season, but Moyes and West Ham fans will not be complaining if he continues to dominate the midfield in this way during his Hammers career.
If the former AC Milan man can add more goals and assists to his game, to go with his new-found defensive abilities, then West Ham could soon have a top midfielder on their hands and will surely continue to rise up the Premier League table.
