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This article is part of Football FanCast's In Numbers series, which takes a statistical look at performances, season-long form and reported transfer targets...

Despite the new Premier League season being just two weeks old, Manuel Pellegrini has already made a significant team selection call and it is certainly the right one.

After watching their side get hammered by Manchester City on the opening weekend, lots of West Ham fans pointed the finger at Aaron Cresswell for his awful individual performance.

We ourselves even detailed the oddly scare amount of defensive work that the England international did against a side who were attacking at will and suggested that Arthur Masuaku should be chosen instead - Pellegrini seems to agree with us.

The Chilean made the bold call to completely drop the injury-free Cresswell from the squad for the trip to Brighton and hand Masuaku a start instead, and he was not let down by the DR Congo international.

As you can see, the 25-year-old was heavily involved against the Seagulls.

Masuaku's best feature is arguably his dribbling, and that was evident at the Amex Stadium with four completed dribbles, whilst he also contributed in lots of other departments.

The Hammers still couldn't get the win but their performance was much improved compared to their game against the Citizens.

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It is harsh to be too critical of Cresswell's performance against the back-to-back Premier League champions, but some supporters have had issues with the former Ipswich man even last season - one fan implied that the 29-year-old never puts a shift in towards the end of last term.

Masuaku is still liable to a defensive mishap every now and again, but his energy and attacking intent will prove invaluable against bottom-half sides and West Ham must now view him as the superior option to Cresswell, who doesn't really offer the Hammers too much nowadays.

There are still plenty more games to come, but on the basis of Masuaku's performance against Brighton, he must be considered as Pellegrini's No.1 left-back.

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