Butland the reason we didn’t beat Stoke, says West Ham boss Bilic

Slaven Bilic believes Jack Butland’s heroics for Stoke City was the main reason for West Ham United not winning their Premier League clash on Saturday.

Butland, in only his second game back from more than a year on the sidelines with an ankle injury, pulled off a string of impressive saves as the sides battled to a goalless draw at the bet365 Stadium.

The draw edges both team closer to mathematically guaranteeing their status in the Premier League for another year.

West Ham had the better of an entertaining clash, and Bilic believes his side would have gone on to win the game on another day.

Photo by Gareth Copley/Getty Images

“It was again a good defensive performance, and we were good on the ball, but we just couldn’t convert the chances we created,” Bilic reflected. “We created enough chances to score a couple of goals.

“Jack Butland’s save from Ayew in the first half was unbelievable. It was brilliant reflexes from such close range.

“Then he made three saves in one action, so big credit goes to him for his performance.

“But it is a decent point. We defended as a team and prevented them to just a couple of chances, with the big one coming from Arnautovic when Adrian made a good save.

“We read all their situations and we created four or five chances and unfortunately we couldn’t score.”