EXTRA TIME

Boxing Day Boost for WHU

December 26, 2024 at 10:05 pm Leave a comment

Three years ago the Hammers fell to a 2-3 home defeat to Southampton at the rare occasion of a Boxing Day home game at the London Stadium. Since West Ham’s move to the former Olympic Stadium in 2016 the Hammers have only played twice at their home ground immediately after Christmas: in 2020 they drew 2-2 with Brighton on 27 December (goals: Tomas Soucek, Ben Johnson), and in 2021 they lost to the Saints in the above mentioned Boxing Day game.

In 2018 West Ham also played the Saints after Christmas on 27 December and won 2-1, however in an away match, thanks to two goals from Felipe Anderson. And this year it was again a game against the newly promoted Saints, this time on Boxing Day itself together with seven other games played on this day full of English football tradition.

Julen Lopetegui’s team had to dig deep after more injuries as they lost defender Max Kilman and goalkeeper Lukasz Fabianski to injury in the first half, and also had to replace Carlos Soler at the interval. In the 59th minute Niclas Füllkrug, who played only his fourth match since the end of August, making just his second Premier League start of the season, flicked on a cross from Tomas Soucek for Jarrod Bowen and West Ham’s skipper grabbed the game’s only goal. Though it was Bowen’s 100th league goal, the German celebrated so much that it seemed he had scored it himself!

West Ham held on to their lead as Southampton’s early intensity dropped and their new manager Ivan Juric could not inspire the Saints to a comeback in his first game in charge. His team remains rooted to the bottom of the table while West Ham now are thirteenth with eight points between them and the relegation zone and one point in front of Manchester Utd that lost 0-2 to Wolves. This was the Red Devils fourth defeat in seven league games under their new manager Ruben Amorim.

Just a few weeks ago, Lopetegui’s position was in doubt, but for the first time this season, his side has gone four games unbeaten in the Premier League.

West Ham will play leaders Liverpool and then struggling champions Manchester City in their next two games. “If Fullkrug can stay fit – and the Hammers‘ latest injuries are not long-term – perhaps Lopetegui does have a future with the Hammers after all,” BBC’s Ben Collins wrote in his article on this Boxing Day win.

Well, with these results it really becomes more likely that the Spaniard will still be at the helm when the Austrian supporters club “Austrian Irons” will make their first joint trip to a West Ham game in 2025 on May 3rd when the Hammers will play Tottenham at the London Stadium.

But for now the “twelve days of Christmas football” continue. As former Austrian player Johnny Ertl who played Form Crystal Palace, Sheffield Utd and Portsmouth put it in an article at Kicker:

“You’re completely clocked in. Three rounds in a week – and then a few days later it’s on to the next FA Cup round. I can remember games where there was only one day of recovery time in between.”

“There is a very special atmosphere in the stadiums, simply a holiday mood. Added to this is the even more extensive coverage on television, radio and in all the newspapers these days. Soccer is an integral part of public life.”

West Ham’s games:

26/12 Southampton, 29/12 Liverpool, 4/1 Manchester City, 10/1 Aston Villa (FA Cup)

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