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| This might not happen again... |
West Ham 2 Aston Villa 1
The Irons might have been unlucky against Arsenal and Liverpool, but certainly made up for it with this game. Though as it's the tenth anniversary of Jonathan Spector's finest game for West Ham, the 4-0 demolition of Man United in the League Cup, perhaps it was all a divine tribute to Specs.
It's the perfect start for the Hammers when Villa's blockers get in a muddle and Ogbonna rises well to head in Bowen's corner. Matt takes to WhatsApp to reveal that West Ham's last nine goals have been scored by nine different players.
But for the rest of the half Villa take control and when Grealish is given too much space in midfield he blasts home a long-range effort via Ogbonna's boot.
Antonio never looks match fit after his hamstring lay-off and Moyes, who normally subs late, makes the unusual move of taking two players off at the interval. Antonio is swapped for Haller and Benrahma replaces Masuaku as the Hammers revert to a back-four.
The changes work instantly as Bowen finnds Benrahma on the left. He cuts inside to chip a delicate ball into the box which Bowen heads home. Blimey. That's Benrahma's second assist from the bench, which is really saying something.
ANOTHER FINE MISS, OLLIE
The second half goes the way of the first with Villa coming back strongly after an early West Ham goal, though it's always pleasing to see John Terry get booked. Grealish gets Fornals booked with a terribly late dive, but the playmaker is dominating the game, driving Villa forward.
Trezeguet miskicks after being set up by Watkins but still inspires a smart save from Fabianski. The inevitable equaliser seems to have come after 71 minutes when Rice has a slight tug at Traore's shirt causing the player to theatrically collapse. Watkins hammers the penalty against the bar. The Gods are smiling on us.
West Ham aren't playing well but what is impressive is the collective resilience. Ogbonna and Balbuena have massive games at the back and even Benrahma is tracking back in his role as left wing-back. It's a sensible decision to bring on the experienced Mark Noble to try and calm it down.
But in added time it looks like Villa have finally equalised when Watkins sweeps home a cross from the left. After a two and a half minute VAR check it's disallowed for an arm being offside. We'll take that bit of luck, but surely what VAR needs to do is give the benefit of the doubt to the attacker when it's such a close decision. The ref has also missed Ogbonna's arms around Watkins as he makes his run.
The whistle goes and its good to see the celebrations of the West Ham players who have worked tremendously hard to get a result. It's hard on Villa though. We've won three in a row but it's worth remembering that if Lookman had scored his penalty, McBurnie hadn't hit the bar and Watkins had converted his penalty we might have only had two or three points instead of nine. Still, winning while playing badly isn't a bad habit and we go up to fifth. What's going to happen when we do play well? Irons!
PLAYER RATINGS: Fabianski 7; Coufal 7, Ogbonna 8, Balbuena 7, Cresswell 6, Masuaku 5 (Benrahma 7); Rice 6, Soucek 5, Fornals 5; Bowen 7 (Noble 6); Antonio 5 (Haller 6).
2 comments:
Fair summation of the game, Balbluena and Ogbanna were awesome in their defending although Ogbanna does bear hug people in the box too much.
Good substitutions at half time but we backed off too often and let them run at us.
To win when you play poorly is a very good sign especially for the Hammers! COYI
I think we'll raise our game for Man United. Didn't play well but character in the side has improved massively.
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