Archive for December 27, 2022
Another Familiar Result
When Arsenal and West Ham met in a late kick-off on Boxing Day, both of them continued exactly where they had left off before the World Cup.
Arsenal won and remain top of the Premier League, and West Ham, despite being 1-0 up at The Emirates Stadium before the interval thanks to a Said Benrahma penalty (above), lost 1-3 and remain in 16th, separated by just one point from the relegation zone.
An away game against Arsenal always had been destined a free-hit, and even when the Hammers lead at the break, it was highly unlikely that they would take the points. However, a fourth consecutive defeat in the PL will have piled the pressure on manager David Moyes whose team also lost on penalties to Blackburn Rovers in the League Cup before the World Cup break.
Now it’s about time for the Hammers to get points on board in the upcoming games until the end of January! All of them will be played against teams which sit around West Ham in the table:
The Hammers will end the year with Brentford at home on Friday and begin 2023 with Leeds away on January 4th. These League games are followed by an other tie against Brentford (A) in the FA Cup, before fellow strugglers Wolves (A) and Everton (H) are entertained by David Moyes’s team.
These are going to be crucial weeks for the Irons!
At the end of January we should know if there is a way back to mid-table security this season, and if the probably oldest team in the Premier League will have got some reinforcements during the transfer window. David Moyes’s fate will be decided within these weeks: Will he still be the man to manage West Ham by the end of next month and be able to continue what he and all at West Ham long for after more than forty years of wait*): to win some silverware, perhaps in the Conference League?
I hope so and keep my fingers crossed for the boys in claret and blue! Come on you Irons!
*) West Ham have been winners of the FA Cup three times (1964, 1975 and 1980) and runners-up twice (1923 and 2006). The club have reached two major European finals, winning the European Cup Winners’ Cup in 1965 and finishing runners-up in the same competition in 1976. West Ham captain Declan Rice said in an interview while being at the World Cup that he wanted “to play for big trophies”:
“I’ve been playing consistently well for my club and I feel like I really want to keep pushing. I see my friends here, who are playing Champions League and for big trophies. You only get one career and at the end you want to look back at what you’ve won and the biggest games you’ve played in. I really want to do that.”
Rice’s contract runs out in 2024 with West Ham having the option to extend it by a further year. Many have the feeling that he could leave the Club in the summer…
EXTRA TIME 
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