MAKING THE MOST OF MOYES
Manchester City 3 West Ham 1
It is David Moyes’ last game in charge of West Ham United. Three successive years in Europe, into a world where the club have gone from being pushovers at their 63,000 capacity London Stadium to becoming a side that even as he leaves them, are guaranteed a ninth position finish.
Phil Foden hits a worldy past Areola. Of course he does. He couldn’t possibly reserve that strike for a game against their Manchester rivals now, could he? “Voted the best player in the Premier League,” says Gary Neville. “And he’s juts showed us why.”
Doku then cuts in on the left and this time it’s West Ham’s worldy as Areola stretches across his goal to fingertip the goalbound shot away for a corner. It’s been Doku’s first season at City, but he already looks like he’s been there all his life.
And a few minutes later Doku is at it again, this time stroking a pass across the area, as West Ham retreat, into the path of Foden who strokes home his second of the afternoon past Areola.
But Moyes’ West Ham teams have often surprised us, and when James Ward-Prowse picks out Kudus at the far post, no one in the capacity crowd imagines he might tee himself up for the most spectacular overhead kick I think I’ve ever seen a player in a West Ham shirt execute. It hits the back of the net before the keeper has even registered his presence there.
“Has goal of the season been named already?” asks Gary Neville. It has. Next time, score it in November. It’s West Ham’s moment in a game against the Champions, but at least he’s scored the goal of the game.
City score a third in the second half as Silva sets up Roderigo, who finishes well from the edge of the area. Haaland misses a header chance from a De Bruyne free-kick before Souček punches one in from a Ward-Prowse corner. Geoff Hurst might have managed it in 1968 against Sunderland, but you can’t get away with that kind of thing these days, and VAR strikes it off.
City have registered an unprecedented fourth successive championship in the Premier League, but perhaps more importantly for the travelling East London fans, it is farewell to David Moyes. West Ham’s first trophy-winning manager since John Lyall, 44 years ago.
23 Alphonse Areola, 3 Aaron Cresswell, 33 Emerson, 4 Kurt Zouma (captain), 5 Vladimir Coufal, 15 Konstantinos Mavropanos, 10 Lucas Paquetá, 7 James Ward-Prowse, 28 Tomas Souček, 9 Michail Antonio, 14 Mohammed Kudus
Substitutes: 19 Edson Álvarez, 18 Danny Ings, 40 George Earthy
Goalscorer: Mohammed Kudus
