We're top of the league! Brighton hoodoo ends

Brighton 1 West Ham 3 (three)

Matt and Lisa come over to my gaff to watch this one, armed with cans of Gamma Ray. We're joined by lucky border terrier Vulcan. It seems some gamma rays have been sprayed on to the West Ham side too. Moyes has gone for Muhammad Ali-style "rope a dope" tactics as Brighton exert early pressure with Gilmour shooting wide. 

But when Paqueta releases Antonio on the left and Micky shoots at the keeper it hints at a potential Brighton weakness. West Ham only complete 31 passes in the first half but somehow take the lead. Ward-Prowse plays a hopeful ball to Antonio on the left. Webster misses the ball and Antonio surges into the box to cross for Ward-Prowse, who has made up a lot of ground to get into the box. Webster blocks the first shot but the ball falls kindly for James to tap home a poacher's goal.

Areola has to make a very sharp save from a low Ferguson shot a minute later. But the Hammers compete for every ball and defend resolutely until the break. Brighton begin the second half with more pressure, as Areola has to claw away a Ferguson header. Soucek has to go off after a punch in the head from the Seagulls' goalkeeper. 

Sub Benrahma makes the crucial difference as he is found by Antonio, who is almost playing in the left-back position. Milner is looking vulnerable at right-back and Said plays a superb cross into the path of Jarrod Bowen, who controls it brilliantly and slots it into the far corner. A great goal. "If that goal was scored by Mo Salah they'd be taking about it forever," reflects Matt. 

We break out the crisps and hummus. The away fans know what we are, which seems to be Champions of Europe. On 63 minutes WHU are 3-0 up. Bowen feeds Antonio who bamboozles Webster to fire into the corner with a similar goal to the one he scored against Chelsea. 

"Are you watching Declan Rice?" chant the away fans. West Ham have chances to make it four. When released by Paqueta, Antonio puts over the easiest chance we've had. Then Ward-Prowse's effort is deflected onto his own bar by Dunk. 

Mind you, we're still worried at 3-0, just like we were away to Lyon. Gross pulls back a goal from the edge of the box after 81 minutes and the exhausted Alvarez has to depart the fray. Areola has to make a great stop from Veltman and late on makes a fantastic save to tip Ferguson's header on to the bar. But with 22 per cent possession the Irons hold on to finally beat Brighton at the 13th time of asking. Gavin comments on WhatsApp that, "We totally De Zerbed that". And we go top of the league - at least until Man City play. It's seven points from three games compared to no points from three last time round. Irons!

Finally some Kudus for West Ham

It's in danger of turning into a good transfer window for the Irons. The club have agreed a £38m deal with Ajax for Mohammed Kudus. If he passes his medical the Ghanain international will be the fourth signing of the summer following Edson Alvarez, James Ward-Prowse and  Konstantinos Mavropanos. Kudus scored a hat-trick in the Europa League this week, which isn't bad and looks a real prospect. His arrival might possibly mean the departure of Pablo Fornals who is in the final year of his contract, which would be a shame, but we now have a lot of midfielders. Moyes is now talking bullishly about having a better squad than when Declan Rice was here. The Hammers have bided their time in the market and there might be a striker to come as well. Was it only a few weeks ago when twitter was in meltdown about the lack of deals?

There's only one Konstantinos Mavropanos

West Ham have made a massive signing - in terms of letters at least. Konstantinos Mavropanos at around £20m from Stuttgart is the first ever Greek international at West Ham. Dinos, as he is nicknamed, was a cult hero at his former club and scored some cracking long-range goals. And the defender had eight games at Arsenal in the PL as a 20-year-old before being loaned out. Better to take a punt on a Greek bewaring gifts than on Maguire, who never seemed to fancy  playing for the Irons.

While Mavropanos has to have the longest combined name of any West Ham player ever. My pal Matt is going to get his name on his replica shirt once the IMF approve the loan. While I'd say Demba Ba is probably the player with the shortest surname ever to play for the Hammers. Not that any of us like trivia. 

Stick your blue flag...

West Ham 3 Chelsea 1

It's a balmy August afternoon at Hackney Wick, where the old road to the stadium has been blocked off and access to the ground is now a longer trek via the away end. Good to see a photo of Jarrod Bowen's winner on the exterior of the London Stadium. Inside "2023 Europa Conference League Winners" has been added to our list of honours on the main stand. 

Lisa is taking it easy having only seen two West Ham games so far this weekend with the Under-18s and the Under-21s, both of which we won, plus watching the Lionesses on TV. Matt is wearing his Prague winners t-shirt, Nigel has arrived on the right day and just beaten the 3pm deadline for getting a Best Cafe breakfast. Michael has enjoyed a successful read-through of his latest play and dapper Fraser is unusually jacket-less in the heat. There's a Raise the Flag display with a silver Europa Conference trophy in the middle of a sea of claret in the Billy Bonds Stand.

"If we defend like this we're going down," says Michael, three minutes into our first home game. Nigel has to give him a talking to and tell him to raise himself and save his pessimism until the start of September. 

EMERGENCY WARD-PROWSE

It's immediately evident that James Ward-Prowse can take a great corner. Bowen nearly scores from his first delivery. From the next corner after seven minutes he swings the ball right on to Aguerd's head. Nayef rises above Conor Gallagher to head home. A hearty chorus of "Stick your blue flag..." rings around the London Stadium.

But after the goal Chelsea start to dominate through the speed of Jackson and Sterling as West Ham start to miss Rice in midfield. Areola appears to have conceded a penalty when he brings down Jackson, only to be saved by an offside flag. Benrahma loses possession and Aguerd is forced to bring down his man and take a booking for the team.

But a Chelsea goal is coming and arrives as a loose clearance by Zouma is gathered by Chukwuemeka, who cuts inside Soucek to fire home a fine shot. Paqueta twists to send a shot against the outside of the post but West Ham are hanging on at the back. A second goal looks inevitable when Soucek fouls Sterling and a penalty is given.

"Areola never saves penalties, remember the Blackburn shoot-out last season when he didn't get near any of them?" says Matt. Enzo Fernandez takes the penalty and Areola duly saves. Mystic Matt has done it again. It's a good height for the keeper and not a great penalty from the £105 million man, but credit to Areola for going the right way.

YOU BLOW MY MIND HEY MICKY!

It's a relief to make it to half-time level. But whatever Moyes says has an effect. Antonio starts to hold the ball up and menace the Chelsea defence. Eight minutes into the half Ward-Prowse plays a ball over the top to Antonio. Micky shrugs off Colwill and fires a rocket of a shot through the defender's legs and into the back of the net. That was unexpected, and it's two assists for Ward-Prowse on his debut.

Chelsea come back at us and Aguerd, Soucek and Zouma make some vital blocks, But with 23 minutes left Aguerd makes a rash challenge for a second yellow and is off. Surely we can't survive half an hour with ten men? But the team's resilience is excellent. Moyes brings on Ogbonna for Benrahma and Fornals for Antonio. Fornals is a clever move as it ensures the Hammers can still threaten on the break rather than sitting back all the time. Paqueta mops up in front of the defence and has a good team game too. Akvarez comes on for an effective 15-minute cameo. 

Sub Mudryk wastes some opportunities for Chelsea and a great Soucek tackle on 89 minutes proves the side's commitment. Paqueta and Fornals break down the left and Fornals gets through to fire a shot against Sanchez's legs.

Madueke has a deflected shot well saved by Areola, but generally Chelsea have lacked creativity against a massed defence. In the 95th minute Emerson and Paqueta get the ball in the corner. It seems they are going to waste some more time, but Paqueta's clever back-heel sets Emerson free in the box and he's fouled by £115 sub Caicedo. Lucas does a little hop, skip and stutter that ages Nigel ten years, but calmly sends Sanchez the wrong way and shouts at the heavens to celebrate the fact he's staying at a proper club and not gambling on the Mancs. 

What a great result and all after 24 per cent possession - the ultimate Moyesball win. Though I still think Chelsea can stay up. On the way to the Eagle Nigel confesses that he has forgotten his lucky banana. Perhaps WHU's fortunes are not entirely fruit driven?  At the pub we're joined by Tom from Gidea Park and Sinead has bottles of East London Pale Ale and Guinness and a cheese toastie for Fraser. Nigel reflects that the unexpected victories are the best and remembers a 1-0 win brings at Chelsea with an 89th minute own goal after being bettered all game. 

Four points from two games is four more points than we had at the same stage last season. And what a great way to celebrate our first home game since the Europa Conference win. Irons!

PLAYER RATINGS: Areola 8; Coufal 6, Zouma 7, Aguerd 6, Emerson 7; Soucek 7, Ward-Prowse 8 (Alvarez 6), Paqueta 8, Benrahma 6 (Ogbonna 6); Bowen 6, Antonio 8 (Fornals 7).

City no longer gambling on Paqueta

Only at West Ham. So now it emerges that the FA are investigating Lucas Paqueta for possible betting breaches. This is likely to end Man City's interest as if found guilty he would be likely to be suspended. Brentford's Ivan Toney was banned for eight months for breaking the FA's betting rules. Sources close to Paqueta say he is shocked by the allegations. But it's going to be an anxious wait to see if Lucas is charged.   

Harry's no longer game

So the Maguire deal is now off as West Ham have tired of saying Hurry Up Harry. This seems for the best. The club has wasted several weeks trying to recruit Maguire. We need players who want to play for us. Harry seems more concerned about being compensated for his £200k a week wages. How much money does a player need? Now "sources close to Maguire" are saying that he still loves Man United and never agreed personal terms or met David Moyes. As with Lingard last summer we've wasted a lot of time chasing a player who's messed us around. West Ham can get younger and faster prospects for £30m and a centre back was never our priority. Let's move on.

Lingard trains with Hammers

It seems David Moyes just can't keep away from his ex. The Guardian reports that Jesse Lingard is training with West Ham for fitness and there is a chance WHU would offer him a contract. Hopefully Jesse is being served with large slices of humble pie in the club canteen. He was a great signing on loan at West Ham three seasons ago, but at 30 is his fitness, form and commitment still there? His move to Forest for more money was a mistake, so perhaps Lingard now realises he should have signed for the Hammers. Moyes will have to examine his attitude very carefully, but on a free a committed Lingard could be a decent signing.

Meanwhile the Harry Maguire move has stalled, with Maguire reportedly wanting £7 million  to leave Man United. This isn't a good sign as he doesn't seem that desperate to join us and the club are right to threaten to pull out of the deal unless it happens soon.

Point picked at Cherries

Bournemouth 1 West Ham 1

Up in Edinburgh for the start of the season as the Irons still try to recruit fringe players. And it's certainly good to hear the chants of, "We know what we are... Champions of Europe!" from the away fans bringing back memoioes of the miracle of Prague. 

The Hammers are unlucky in the first half as Benrahma nicks the ball to Soucek whose slightly deflected shot bounces off the post into Neto's hands. The Cherries have another escape when Paqueta gets his head to a corner and Billing has to clear off the line. Brooks tests Areola a couple of times and Solanke's pace troubles Aguerd, but the home side's new signings are still getting to know each other's play.

West Ham take the lead after 51 minutes with a great goal. Fortnals does really well to win a tackle and Soucek plays the loose ball to Jarrod Bowen, who curls home a lovely strike from the edge of the box. He's still on fire and, erm, parenting with Dani Dyer.

But after the goal the Hammers get pushed back as of old. Aguerd and Zouma win some good headers and Rothwell is unlucky when his shot hits the bar. But it looks like the Hammers might hold on for a 1-0 win until Semenyo's shot hits the heel of Souek and falls kindly for Solanke to round Areola and score.

Ings is on for the 33-year-old Antonio and the Hammers almost restore their lead when Paqueta - who has looked committed despite Man City's interest - hits a low shot against the foot pf the post.

So in the end it's a fairly decent away point in a game WHU could have won. The way the side faded after scoring was worrying, but with Alvarez and Ward-Prowse to come in that will surely give the side a boost. And it's already a much better start than last season, when the side lost the first three games. Now we just have to tell Chelsea where to inset their blue flag.

Deals agreed for Maguire and Ward-Prowse

It looks like three signings are on the way now £30m deals ave been agreed for Harry Maguire and James Ward-Prowse, along with the imminent arrival of Edson Alvarez. So it's lucky no-one on twitter has been having meltdowns over the lack of activity in the past few weeks. Ward-Prowse might be 28 but having just watched a video of all his free-kick goals for the Saints he could really add something to the side with his assists and goals. Though given time we might be able to coach him into how to hit the wall rather than score.

It's less easy to see the need for Harry Maguire when WHU have Zouma and Aguerd, plus Kehrer and Ogbonna, but we're getting a player who once cost £80m for £30m and he has a point to prove. Maguire will surely be better in a team that plays deep and has never lost the confidence of Gareth Southgate. He looked a really good player for Hull and Leicester and both Mourinho and Guardiola tried to buy him at that point. His first season at United saw him tighten the defence but after that and his holiday arrest he lost his way and confidence. He'll be under less pressure at a team that wants to finish in the top half rather than win the league. Again he'll add a threat from set-pieces, and like Ward-Prowse is a club captain who can bring some leadership after Declan.

The bad news is that Man City are sniffing around Lucas Paqueta, though his £85m release clause isn't activated until next summer. In a busy morning, Nikola Vlasic has departed for Torino for around £10m. It's another hefty loss on a player who cost £25 million and was a panic buy after Moyes failed to sign Lingard. Despite being a regular sub for Croatia he never looked like adapting to the Premier League in his one season and scored just one-goal against a poor Watford side. We have to hope the new signings are better value.

Scamacca has left the building

Gianluca Scamacca has left West Ham for Atalanta. It seems astonishing that we spent a season and a half with only Antonio as a striker and then bought the wrong one. After an initial virus, he started quite well, but then seemed strangely diffident. He seemed to be carrying an injury and missed the second part of the season after having an operation. Scamacca clearly had quality as his long-range goal against Leeds and thumping shot against Wolves showed, and I'd have liked to see what he could do this season. 

If he was homesick then that is perhaps something the club should have spotted when they researched him. While Moyes clearly didn't think he put himself about enough, but then again that should have come up when we scouted him. Maybe his head was turned by another signing-on fee. At least we've only lost about £5m on Luca, as the add-ons were never activated on his £30.5m fee. So we're down to Antonio, Ings and Mubama up front. Scamacca has proved a costly mistake (hopefully the sort of thing technical director Tim Steidten can prevent). So we can now expect Luca to have a great season in Italy... but at least there is more money in the kitty for new signings.

Edson lighthouse?

Well, here is my possibly over-optimistic preview of the season in the Observer. But this squad really should be capable of a top half finish, even with Rice gone. A lot of twitter/X warriors have been catastrophising after the 4-0 friendly defeat at Bayer Leverkuson, wanting to sack Moyes and predicting relegation even before we've kicked off. Yes, it was a poor performance, perhaps partially explained by Billy McKinlay when he revealed the players had to be up at five am to fly to the match. But the main purpose of pre-season friendlies is to get fit and it might even do us a favour in removing any complacency. 

West Ham have now agreed a £32 million fee with Ajax for Edson Alvarez (Mexican Rice?) so that would be a significant step forwards. In our last competitive match we won a trophy. So as Graham Taylor once said to Rob Shepherd in Do I Not Like That, "Raise yourself Rob, I can't have long faces like yours round about me, get yourself up man!" And remember the Hammers lost the first three games of last season, which really was a bad start. We can judge the dealings at the end of the window and after the first ten games will have an idea of how the season will go. But for now let's stay positive.

Who is in control of transfers?

Rather a worrying piece by Jacob Steinberg in the Observer on the lack of a coherent transfer strategy. He cites tensions between David Moyes and new technical director Tim Steidten, with Moyes wanting proven PL performers and Steidten preferring younger players from Europe. Plus the input from Sullivan and Noble further confuses things. Add in Sully's tendency to underbid and West Ham have problems, with no Rice replacement signed as yet. 

Mind you, to read some online comments from West Ham fans you'd think we were relegated before a ball has been kicked. If we can get James Ward-Prowse then he would be a good signing, and you can understand the club not wanting to pay over the odds to a relegated team who should be desperate to sell. My hunch is the £30m bid will be increased. There was a similar keyboard panic when we failed to sign Onana last summer and we ended up with a trophy. Let's see where the club is at the close of the window.