King Teddy

At 40 years and 210 days old Teddy Sheringham has not only beaten his own record of oldest Premiership player, but also beaten his record for oldest Premiership scorer. More importantly Pardew's assessment that he would give West Ham more guile in the opponent's half proved correct and we have escaped the relegation zone.

Pardew himself praised Teddy and the fans for their response at the beginning of the game,

"I was moved when the crowd chanted my name at the start of the game. It was a nice moment and a great fillip for both the team and myself.

I felt that I might be opening myself up for a bit of trouble by getting a 40-year-old to come and save the day but Teddy's a special character and I have a lot of trust in him to take care of the ball in the forward areas.

He did that for me today and was very effective for us. Teddy has leadership qualities that are important for the team and it's nice to have a senior player who you can lean upon. This quite young, inexperienced squad do look towards him."