West Ham brought to an end League Cup serial winners' Manchester City's five year reign, actually it had been 1,827 since they were last defeated in the competition, ironically by Manchester United, who were of course the team Hammers beat at Old Trafford in order to face city in the next round, and ultimately to the Carabao Cup quarter-finals!
West Ham: Areola, Johnson, Diop, Dawson, Cresswell, Noble ©, Souček, Vlašić, Lanzini, Masuaku, Yarmolenko
Subs: Randolph (GK), Coufal, Ashby, Baptiste, Zouma, Chesters, Fornals, Benrahma, Bowen
Man City: Steffen, Walker, Stones, Ake, Zinchenko, Fernandinho (C), Gundogan, De Bruyne, Mahrez, Sterling, Palmer
Subs: Carson, Dias, Jesus, Grealish, Laporte, Rodrigo, Cancelo, Foden, Edozie
A long long time ago, in what was a different universe, a small minority of people had the absolute gall and temerity to actualy believe David Moyes could miraculously turn his metaphoric loaves and fishes team into fayre capable of providing footballing sustinance for thousands and thousands, and you know what? He is doing just that!
Last season West Ham performed beyond expectation by finishing sixth in the Barclays Premier League, missing out on Champions League qualification by just ONE win. That sixth place earned Hammers a group stage qualification for the UEFA Europa League, a poisoned chalice for many 'smaller' clubs due to the play on Sunday and then on Thursday nature of the competition.
The frustration at their team's shortcomings boiled over during Tottingham's game against West Ham at the London Dome, all of this being most apparent when their fans tried to go on a rampage even before they were beaten. There has been plenty of media coverage showing the incident, one that was probably perpetrated by the 'fans' we mentioned in our previous article, most of which were pissed, or well on their way!
There were many 'strange' incidents during Hammers hard earned victory over London's third placed team Tottingham, some were more annoying than others! The incident that is already all over 'soshall' media was Romero's tackle of fellow spanish speaking Pablo Fornals, having clearly swiped Fornals' feet from under him, Romero then had the temerity to lean over the stricken player and accuse him of feigning injury.
The footballing year 2015/16 was a watershed twelve months for the Premier League, a year that represented the final moments of the title deadlock held by Chelsea, Manchester United, and Manchester City since Arsenal lifted the cup in 2003/04. That’s twelve seasons with just three teams in the running for the title. The sudden challenge and eventual victory of Leicester City the following year is something now firmly etched in football legend.
On the overground once it had picked up the Tottingham contingent, a group of their fans enjoyed 'rioutsly' singing their mainly borrowed songs. However one of their 'originals' was interesting in that they were singing how much they hate Man City, Liverpool AND West Ham!
West Ham: Fabiański, Johnson, Zouma, Ogbonna, Cresswell, Rice (c), Souček, Bowen, Benrahma, Fornals, Antonio
Subs: Areola (GK), Ashby, Masuaku, Dawson, Diop, Noble, Lanzini, Vlašić, Yarmolenko
Tottenham: Lloris, Emerson Royal, Dier, Romero, Reguilón, Højbjerg, Skipp, Lucas Moura, Ndombele, Son, Kane
Subs: Gollini (GK), Tanganga, Davies, Sánchez, Rodon, Alli, Lo Celso, Bergwijn, Gil
Statistics are always subject to interpretation and in West Ham's case they are indeed confusing when examined. David Moyes side currently have the best joint away record in the Barclays Premier League, have won all their Europa League games handsomely and top their group, but the elephant in the room is the team's home form in the League.