West Ham 1 Man United 0
By Simon Leyland
At long last we are pretty well safe.
West Ham flew out of the blocks against Man United and had the most possession in the first five minutes with United penned into their own half. We then weathered a 15 minute spell of relentless pressure with both Rashford and Anthony hitting the woodwork.
Said Benrahma’s goal helped secure West Ham’s Premier League future
But then out of nothing, Bowen and Antonio battled for the ball on the right hand side, then a poor clearance from Shaw hits Benrahma and the Algerian collects.
He’s 45 yards from goal, surrounded by defenders, but dribbles forward before shooting from about 25 yards. It’s got next to no pace on it, but De Gea has completely misread it, and his dive was poor, his right hand weak and the ball dribbled into the net! A howler from De Gea.
That goal made it the second consecutive season that Said Benrahma has made it to double figures in all competitions. It was eleven last season and now ten in this.
1-0 to the Irons
Just before half time, yet another VAR decision goes against us, this time for a penalty. Benrahma pounced onto a pass from Paqueta and his low shot is saved by De Gea.
The ball then looped up and Benrahma volleys and it hits Lindelof on the arm. It looks like a penalty, and a replay then shows him move his arm towards the ball, but despite being looked at by VAR, the review does not send the referee to the pitchside monitor.
Are VAR watching this on a 50 year old black and white TV or have they left early for half time tea? I give up…, who knows what a penalty is or isn’t these days?
The start of the second half saw the Irons pile on the pressure and on the 53rd minute, Soucek makes a decent block and we counter and win a throw. It’s hurled in from the right and Soucek flicks it on. Antonio challenges De Gea, who then acrobatically converts from about three yards.
The stadium erupts, but the ref has blown for a foul by our No9 on De Gea. It is a foul, but it’s soft, as he was deemed to have obstructed the goalkeeper.
And yet another goal is chalked off, this time for off-side. Soucek heads in off the near post, following a sublime Paqueta cross.
There were eight added minutes added on following a clash of heads between Soucek and Wan-Bissaka, and a very nervous eight minutes they were too!
The stadium erupts , the lads played their hearts out… three points in the bag!!
Roll on Thursday!
What a night. It was us 60000 fans who got us over the line. A fantastic atmosphere brought back memories of Sevilla game!
It’s not stadiums that are soulless it’s what is served up so more of this please on Thursday night. Loved it!
There was some quality play out there today but playing Harry Mcquire in goal in place of The Spanish keeper was a bad call (well the no1 played like the England center back).The hunger is there for thursday night and at last it looks like they could go to the end of the season without getting beaten.