It was a positive night for three key West Ham stars and Nuno Espirito Santo will be hoping it provides a much-needed confidence boost ahead of a crucial run of games as the Premier League returns.
West Ham are back in Premier League action on Monday night when they host Brentford at the London Stadium.
A trip to Leeds follows four days later before back-to-back home games against Newcastle and Burnley.
Nuno Espirito Santo will be hoping to take at least seven or eight points from that clutch of matches before the November international break.
Hammers trio get timely confidence boost ahead of crucial run
Any less and West Ham will likely find themselves entrenched in the relegation zone over the winter.
Key to the Hammers’ hopes will be the likes of Jarrod Bowen, Lucas Paqueta, Crysencio Summerville and other leading players.
Given the lack of quality in depth in West Ham’s squad, having those players fit and in form will be vital to the club remaining in the top flight come what May.
After losing Niclas Fullkrug to injury for what is expected to be several weeks at least, the Hammers cannot afford many more absences.
The good news for Nuno is that Bowen, Paqueta, Mateus Fernandes and others will be returning to Rush Green unscathed.
They should also be full of confidence after their latest outings for their national teams.
West Ham star Fernandes shone in an 11-0 riot as Paqueta and Bowen got assists overnight.
Bowen made a great impression off the bench for England in a 5-0 win over Latvia.
The Hammers skipper was given over half an hour by Three Lions boss Thomas Tuchel.
West Ham star shines in 11-0 riot as Paqueta and Bowen assist
And he made his mark with a superb assist as he tenaciously won the ball back in central midfield before driving at the Latvia defence and threading a lovely ball to Eberechi Eze to score.
Bowen was widely praised by the likes of Lee Dixon, Ian Wright, Roy Keane and Mark Pugatch after the game.
Over in Tokyo, Paqueta started for Carlo Ancelotti’s Brazil against Japan.
Paqueta’s camp responded to claims he could leave West Ham in January after fresh rumours over his future this week.
Nuno will need Paqueta showing his quality and pulling the strings in West Ham’s midfield as they battle to move away from the danger zone.
And the signs are good as he produced a quite brilliant assist for Arsenal’s Gabriel Martinelli to score against Japan.
Paqueta helped Brazil into a 2-0 lead but Ancelotti’s side threw it all away to lose the friendly match 3-2.
The West Ham star came off on 75 minutes but it was not injury related.
West Ham’s Portugal Under 21s leader Fernandes scores in romp
Nobody had a better night than West Ham’s £40m midfield dynamo Fernandes, though.
Roberto Martinez told Fernandes to secure a move back to the Premier League in the summer because he wants him in his Portugal squad for the World Cup.
As part of his learning curve, Fernandes has been made one of the captains of Portugal’s Under 21s.
And he showed his class and leadership by scoring and running the show in a mammoth 11-0 win over Gibraltar.
West Ham’s internationals will now start heading back to east London and have the entire weekend to recover and prepare ahead of the crucial Brentford game, which is live on Sky Sports on Monday night.
