EXTRA TIME

Classic Derby Win

October 25, 2021 at 9:26 pm Leave a comment

Sunday’s win against Tottenham might not have grabbed so many headlines as this game deserved because of Manchester United’s 5-0 humiliation by Liverpool, but West Ham’s back to back derby victory was a game well contested, if not a classic. This game is followed by a visit of Manchester City in the League Cup on Wednesday night.

West Ham was captained again by Declan Rice in this third win within eight days. These are all but happy days for the Hammers and their fans, and Rice believes the resilience shown by his side in a game like this shows exactly how far they have progressed in the last 18 months:

“We’ve completely transformed the way we are, as players, as people and that’s down to the manager,” he said.

“It’s down to the players buying in to what he wants and every time we go out there, even if we’ve got beaten, we come off the pitch knowing we’ve given everything.

“We’re always in it to the end and we’re sat fourth in the table and we want to keep looking forward. We are a top side – we’re proving that in Europe and we’re proving that in the Premier League.”

And we hope the Hammers will prove that in Wednesday‘s League Cup Game against holders Manchester City, too. West Ham haven’t won against City since a 2-1 in September 2015, and they have only mustered two draws within these six years. In this away win in 2015 Aaron Cresswell and Manuel Lanzini already played for the Hammers together with Mark Noble and then midfield genius Dimitri Payet. The goals were scored by Victor Moses and Diafra Sakho. In the next game against City in this memorable Last Season at the Boleyn West Ham United narrowly failed in their attempt to complete a league double against Manchester City for the first time since the 1962-63 season and drew 2-2 at Upton Park, courtesy to two goals from Enner Valencia.

This draw was followed by a bad run of nine consecutive defeats by Manchester City in all competitions since January 2016, until Michail Antonio’s goal helped the Hammers to secure a 1-1 draw on October 24th last year at London Stadium behind closed doors due to the COVID pandemic.

It will be interesting to see if manager David Moyes will rest the prolific striker in this cup game or if he will play him in the starting eleven to try to knock out the cup holders with the help of his best hit man.

The last time that West Ham have defeated Manchester City in a cup competition was in March 2006 when two Dean Ashton goals at the City of Manchester Stadium secured a 2-1 win in the FA Cup 6th round. West Ham reached the final against Liverpool in that year and was only beaten on penalties after a last gasp equaliser from Steven Gerrard in a 3-3 draw.

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