West Ham attacker Pablo Fornals has come in for criticism following a 5/10 performance in the 1-0 defeat to Everton on Sunday.

Fornals was substituted after the hour mark as the Hammers found themselves a goal down to their hosts thanks to Neal Maupay’s fearsome drive.

The Spaniard scored the winner in what remains the side’s only Premier League victory to date this season at Aston Villa but he failed to make an impression at Goodison Park.

Writing for football.london writer Jonty Colman gave Fornals a 5/10 rating and made the following comment: ‘Spanish winger Pablo Fornals made late cameo in Denmark but was one of those starting on the bench that day as he only played for the final few minutes of the 3-2 win.

‘A really poor display by his recent standards, when West Ham broke down the right, Fornals struggled to get past Nathan Patterson down his side and his crossing and intricate passing did little to unlock the hosts at the back. Created one half chance early in the second half for Bowen before being taken off minutes after Maupay’s goal.’ 

Fornals has started all seven of the Hammers’ seven league games so far this season.

He ranks sixth among his teammates for average match rating in the Premier League with a 6.77 SofaScore tally but it was a sub-par performance by the 26-year-old.

He lost 75% of his duels, made just one accurate cross from five attempted deliveries, failed to complete a successful dribble and was unable to fashion a shot either on or off target.

The £79k-per-week ace was still at his workmanlike best though, as he made one clearance, two interceptions and two tackles but he will be hoping for a better showing, as will the club in general when they return from the international break to host Wolves, hoping to climb out of the bottom three.