As well as an excellent team performance, there were a number of individual player displays that head coach Slaven Bilic picked out after the victory over Norwich.

Midfielder Imran Louza was available to play as the FA have not given a verdict on his spitting charge (the club expect to hear before the trip to Millwall on Wednesday), and he was outstanding despite missing an early penalty.

“He’s that kind of character. The penalty didn’t affect him,” said Bilic.

“He’s a player that sometimes you want to have as a strong midfielder in front of the defence, but sometimes you want him to play as a number 10 – if you want to be able to play good football, bringing your full backs into play, moving the ball around, then you need somebody like him. He’s a very good creative player in the middle of the park.

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“He was absolutely that today. He was amazing. But also in a defensive way too.”

The Moroccan received a lengthy spell of treatment after taking a heavy tackle in the second half, but was able to carry on.

“He said he was okay,” said Bilic.

“We were ready to make a sub but he said he was ok and having him on the pitch made it much easier to control the game.

“After the game he didn’t complain. Probably it was just a knock and not a major one.”

Bilic sprang a surprise by switching his wide players – Ken Sema was on the right while Ismaila Sarr played on the left, and gave his best performance of the season to date.

“Sarr has played in the first three games on the right, scored a couple of goals and got a couple of assists. They’re good numbers. But sometimes you didn’t see him for 10 minutes. We didn’t always use him well,” explained Bilic when asked about the switch.

“Then me and the staff spoke, and we remembered that for Senegal he plays on the left side. So I spoke to Sarr this week, and he’s a shy boy but he said to me he likes it out there on the left.

“The bigger question for us was can Sema play on the right, but he was really good tonight.

“When Sarr gets the ball in these pockets then he’s got more options. When he gets the ball on the right he can come inside, but then he’s on his left foot. Look at the penalty: when’s playing on the left he can go one way or the other.

“Maybe tonight was a one-off but I don’t think so.

“When you have Sarr there on the left it’s not only him. You have Kamara and Louza, so it becomes a triangle of very creative players, and they are players with pace.”

For the second game running, Dan Gosling – more known as a midfielder – played at right back and gave a fully committed performance. His tackle to deny Josh Sargent a shot at goal when he broke free towards the end of the match typified Gosling’s evening.

“Hats off to Dan. He is one of those characters that I really like to have,” said Bilic.

“He doesn’t talk a lot but when I asked him can you do me a job at right back, he didn’t say ‘I can try’ or ‘maybe I can’. No, he was straight back with ‘no problem’.

“Those kinds of characters are irreplaceable. They are what you want.

“It wasn’t easy for him as they have a winger in Sargent who is in good form. But he was very good. He was also good on the ball and it’s nice to have a midfield player in there. It gives us another playmaker in that zone because he can pass the ball.”

Yaser Asprilla caught the eye in the first half with another combination of vision and hard running, and he also received praise from Bilic.

“He was great in the first half, and at half time I told him ‘Don’t save your energy now. Don’t hold back, just go. If you play another 15 or 20 minutes it’s fine. We have Joao'.

“He went back out and really tried, then got a nasty cut just before he came off and he didn’t get a foul. But it was planned for him to come off anyway.”