West Ham United full-back Aaron Cresswell, has backed the forward Manuel Lanzini to thrive in the "No10 role" in the absence of the exiled Dimitri Payet.

Always capable of it

After an excellent debut campaign the previous season, the Argentine failed to live up to expectations at the beginning of season after securing his permanent move to the Hammers.

Lanzini has since stepped up since Payet's exile to the U23's after proclaiming his desire to leave the London Stadium, putting in great performances against both Crystal Palace and Middlesbrough.

Lanzini's form has also coincided with the return to form for striker Andy Carroll, and Cresswell shared his praise for both and proclaimed that Lanzini can take up Payet's role in the side.

“We always knew Manu was capable of that," Cresswell told whufc.com. "We saw it last season as well.”

“We know the whole team had a bit of a dip in the first ten games of this season," he admitted. "But he is starting to show what he showed last season."

“Hopefully for us he will continue that," the defender stated. "Take the No10 role and take chances and make chances.”

“Andy has been fantastic since he has come back from injury," he stressed. "And has been one of the most important players in our team.”

“If he keeps scoring," Cresswell added. "Hopefully that can keep pushing us up that table.”

Keeping up the positivity

Since the Payet revelations the Hammers have put in some excellent performances, securing their second consecutive victory with Saturday's 3-1 win over Middlesbrough.

They will face a tough test when they welcome Manchester City back to the London Stadium a week on Wednesday, but Cresswell stated that the positivity will be with the side.

“That’s back-to-back wins which is not easy,” he observed. “We did it over Christmas when we got three wins after a draw."

"So it’s always positives and always puts you up the league," the 27-year-old stated. "So we want to keep the positivity around the place and keep doing that and we’ll be OK."

“We played some good stuff in the first half on Saturday," he admitted. "In some ways, it was disappointing not to score more than two."

"That said Andy scored just before half-time which always helps," Cresswell concluded. "Then we managed to get the third goal late on and kill the game off.”

West Ham United will take on Manchester City at the London Stadium on Wednesday, February 1 with kick-off at 7:45pm GMT.