YOU WANT RICE WITH THAT?
Wolverhampton 2 West Ham 3
The late news that Declan Rice will miss tonight’s game with Wolves due to a knee injury he got playing for England last week has thrown the Hammerati into a downward spiral. Whilst Liverpool have had a disappointing season, attributed in the main to the absence of their talismanic central defender and vice-captain Virgil Van Dijk, West Ham have been more than just a team playing around Declan Rice in 2020-21. One question that might be asked is that if he is out for four weeks, why did West Ham leave it this late before announcing it – as they must have known earlier…
The opportunity for Hammers to move back into a Champions League position in the Premier League with a win at Molineux tonight should be all the motivation David Moyes’ team need. There hasn’t been a moment like it so far in this Covid-19 season, and the fear of success has settled gently onto the West Ham psyche like snow in the sun as more and more of the results have conspired to create this opportunity. It’s simple enough. If West Ham win tonight and continue to stay one step ahead of the teams below them, they will be in the Champions League in 2021-22, next season.
The taste of success is strangely sickly sweet to me. I remember West Ham facing relegation-threatened Ipswich Town in a midweek April fixture in 1986 as they made a determined effort to keep in the hunt for the Canon League Division 1 title. They won that game 2-1, with a late penalty from Ray Stewart. They won the next game away at West Brom 3-2, but then missed out even on second place in a last gasp defeat at Everton.
Tonight has divided West Ham fans between those who think the Hammers can function without Rice and those who don’t. This evening should offer a comprehensive response to that question. I believe with all my heart that they are good enough, and in the next ninety minutes we will know. If they win, tonight will invoke celebrations unseen amongst Hammers’ fans since winning promotion at Wembley in May 2012. It won’t define anything more than continued interest in that Champions League place, but as the number of remaining games decreases, the chances of Hammers being in a thrilling last day finale, with fans present, continues.
Seven minutes into the game and Willian José has missed a really good chance (that he set up himself) and Antonio has hit the post – then West Ham score. It’s a result of some intricate play out of defence and a pass that Lingard picks up in his own half and takes to the other end of the pitch where he slots the ball expertly past Patricio. 1-0. His task is made easier by Antonio taking two defenders with him to clear a path for the run and shot.
Just seven minutes later and it’s yet another sublime goal. This one also starts with a phenomenal run from Lingard chasing what looks like a lost cause by the corner flag, but he swivels past his man, and Masuaku chasing behind turns the loose ball across for Fornals to sidefoot home with perfection. This is proof, should it be needed, that you don’t always have to put your laces through it to find the back of the net. Two of Hammers’ goals of the season have come at the best time possible. I look speculatively at the table and notice that Leicester in 3rd are now just four points away. West Ham play them next Sunday.
Antonio gets free in the Wolves area after the attention of three defenders and his effort goes into the side netting. His ankles have taken a bit of a kicking so Moyes takes him off for Bowen as he will be needed in other vital games. There are still ten minutes of the first half to play out, so it’s probably a sensible decision from Moyes.
Fornals is the playmaker this evening, hitting short and long passes alike with precision and anticipation. Now Lingard does it again, breaking with five defenders and slipping in Bowen who has only been on the pitch two minutes, and he does put his laces through it, and the shot beats Patricio on his near post. Two minutes later and Wolves almost grab one back as first José and then Neto miss at the near post with the goal gaping, and Fabianski floundering. A few minutes later and the golden ones this time score a beauty with Traore’s overlapping run and inch perfect cross headed home by Dendoncker. A classic centre-forward’s goal.
Time out. So what should Moyes say to his team at half-time? He’ll no doubt be remembering whatever he said to them in the last home game, and will try and improve on it. The scoring pattern is identical and the passages of play in the game not that dissimilar to the Arsenal fixture. Only West Ham could make you feel nervous when they are 3-1 in front.
Wolves start the second half confidently, but Hammers also look better organised defensively. People who have played football at the highest level have told me that you take the game in segments when you’re defending a lead. Not sure I even know what that means. I understand this idea if you are a batsman building a big innings against great bowlers, but this is football, FFS. This sport doesn’t lend itself to neat analogies. A couple of mistakes and you can… well, I’m sure you know what I mean.
Ten minutes into the second half and from a corner Cresswell hits in a beautiful cross that Bowen connects powerfully with, but the header is just wide. Tonight Stuart Pearce is just behind Moyes in the technical area for something he may have spotted. Souček then bundles the ball over the line after Bowen has had his shot parried, but it is disallowed (correctly) for handball.
I was at this fixture last season when Wolves disposed of West Ham 2-0 without breaking sweat. It was one of Pellegrini’s last games in charge, and a better example of his lack of oomph in away games was never more clearly demonstrated. And just as I am feeling smug about the difference in attitude between the two managers, Fabio Silva hits home from a brilliant pass wide on the right by Neto in the 68th minute, and Wolves are back in it. Just what has happened to West Ham’s defence? They have been so efficient throughout the season, at times clinical, that this sudden crumbling seems horribly out of character. Wolves have twenty minutes to claw back another for a share of the points, possibly for another two to take all three?
The casual control that West Ham exercised in the first half seems to have disappeared. Another case of attack being the best form of defence, if they can gain some momentum in that area. Fifteen minutes to go. It’s been pointed out rather irritatingly by Martin Tyler that West Ham have never completed the double over Wolves in the top flight.
Now might be a good time to bring on Saïd Benrahma, and he’s on for the goal scoring Fornals. What a great time it would be for him to score his first West Ham goal. It might be more about possession really, at this stage… In the end it’s the other substitute Johnson who manages to waste time over by the corner flag and then Lingard emulates him and is booked for time-wasting. Wolves have a corner, but it’s a poor one and Hammers leap over the line. Come on you Irons! ⚒
1 Lucasz Fabianski, 5 Vladimir Coufal, 23 Issa Diop, 26 Arthur Masuaku, 15 Craig Dawson, 3 Aaron Cresswell, 16 Mark Noble (c), 18 Pablo Fornals, 28 Tomas Souček, 11 Jesse Lingard, 30 Michail Antonio
Substitutes: 20 Jarrod Bowen, 9 Saïd Benrahma, 31 Ben Johnson
Scorers: Jesse Lingard, Pablo Fornals, Jarrod Bowen
