Tonight we dine not in Hell, but in the Best Meze Grill. Matt and Lisa have been there since 5.30pm having come straight from William Morris's gaff at Walthamstow. They are sipping the finest wines known to humanity and hoping to see some arts and crafts on the pitch. Matt quotes William Morris' aphorism, "Have nothing in your house you do not know to be useful or believe to be beautiful", which he feels exemplifies David Moyes' philosophy.
After dining on mushrooms and halloumi, falafel and chips we head off to the London Stadium where we meet Nigel, carrying a huge sausage, Fraser and Big Sam. Michael is away with his folios.The away end is bouncing and displaying banners which are all Greek to us, making for a good atmosphere.
It's basically a full-strength Hammers side, minus Zouma and Areola. Mo Kudos is lively early on and gets big cheers for some mazy dribbling, though then picks up a sully booking for shouting at a linesman. Benrahma fires an early shot wide when he should have played in Paqueta, but then Beni, after being found by Paqueta, forces a flying save from Paschalis with a good curling effort.
Aguerd meets a Ward-Prowse corner only to head at the keeper and Benrahma works an angle to test Paschalis again. But the sides look quite evenly matched and the Hammers struggle to break down the deep defence of the Greek side as Aguerd sends another header wide.
At half-time we discover that Nigel has returned to a fruitless house and has no lucky banana with him, which could mean disaster. The second half sees Podence slice wide and West Ham huff and puff as the crowd demand substitutions. When Bowen does really well to get down the left and cross Ward-Prowse slightly scuffs his shot allowing the keeper to save.
SUPER LUCAS
"Why can't he control it?" The tension is too much for the Vicar's Son who berates a series of players as Lisa plans a healing trip to San Francisco. On 72 minutes Ward-Prowse cleverly chips over the defence for Paqueta to volley home. The linesman flags instantly and we all think it is obviously offside. But VAR intervenes and it turns out Lucas has timed his run perfectly. He celebrates right in front of the Olympiakos fans. Matt says he's always loved VAR.
There's a scare with five minutes to go as from a corner Camara heads against the post, but otherwise the Hammers hold on fairly comfortably. That leaves the Irons on nine points and top of the group, though Freiburg also have nine points. It's been quite an enjoyable game with the positives including another assist for Ward-Prowse, who has certainly put in an unsung shift for the team. Dinos has been solid at the back after his aberration at Brentford and Alvarez had a much-improved second half.
We head off to the Olde Black Bull, which has a table reserved for "Mad Irish Steve" and Brixton Pale Ale at the bar. Nigel reveals that he's going to Liverpool on Sunday to help his pal Reg complete his 92 league clubs, which sparks a discussion of obscure grounds where we've seen West Ham play - I can throw Hartlepool, Shrewsbury, Rotherham and Gillingham into the mix.
Overall it's been another good European night and that's nine successive home wins in Europe now. But next up is Forest and it's important to get something from that. Irons!
PLAYER RATINGS: Fabianski 6; Coufal 6, Mavropanos 7, Aguerd 6, Emerson 6; Alvarez 7 (Soucek 6), Ward-Prowse 8, Paqueta 8, Benrahma 6 (Cornet n/a); Bowen 6, Kudus 7 (Mubama n/a).
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