West Ham United's Craig Dawson praised defensive partner Issa Diop after their 2-2 draw at Leicester City last weekend.

Diop came into the side just 15 minutes before kick-off at the King Power Stadium, after Kurt Zouma withdrew due to illness.

And the quietly-spoken Frenchman produced a composed display alongside Dawson, whose late goal earned a share of the spoils for David Moyes' men.

"To come in so late, fair credit to Issa as he was very good," Dawson told whufc.com.

"It was difficult for him to come in so late with little warning, so he was good.

"He was excellent. Fair play to him because he has been working hard on the training pitch and he's been excellent in training. He's got an opportunity and he did very well.

"Issa is very quiet but we've started to hear him on the pitch which is good. He was excellent, so well done to him."

Jarrod Bowen gave Hammers an early lead lead from Diop's superb through ball, netting his seventh goal in seven games, only for Youri Tielemans to level from the penalty spot just before half time.

Ricardo Pereira headed the Foxes in front before the hour, but Dawson got up to meet Bowen's late corner and salvage a point and paid tribute to his teammate.

He added: "It was a great ball in from Jarrod and it's something we've been working on and luckily it counted.

"It was great to get the goal and great work from the lads and hopefully we can improve on that performance.

"You can see Jarrod's confidence is very high and he's a top, top player.

"We expect big things from him every week now and hopefully we'll keep seeing it."

The Hammers are due to host a rejuvenated Newcastle United side, who have won their last three Premier League matches, at London Stadium in the lunchtime kick-off on Saturday (12.30pm).

And having scored in the Premier League for the first time since a home win over Leeds in March 2021, Dawson revealed he is looking to add more to his collection.

He said: "It was that period in the game when we needed a little bit more up front and a bit more height and it seemed to work well.

"I haven't scored as many as I'd like to, so it's something we've been working on, on the training pitch and hopefully we can get some more."