West Ham, Moyes and their ‘bubbles and bikes’

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Publication Date: Saturday, October 24, 2020, 3:35 AM

David Moyes insisted on Friday that he was “in no rush” to sign a new contract at West Ham, but after his latest run of results, it could be the Hammers’ owners who rush. West Ham continued their strong start to the new Premier League season as they drew 1-1 with Manchester City at London Stadium on Saturday.

Getting eight points in their first six games and ranking 10th in the Premier League table is not surprising for the Hammers, but it is the level of difficulty of their last five games that describes the impressive nature of their start. Hammers fans would have been forgiven for thinking ‘here we go again’ after their opening day loss to Newcastle United, in which the Magpies scored with their only two shots on goal. Moyes’ team finished 16th last season, narrowly avoiding relegation by five points and that result against the Geordies would not have calmed their nerves on the first day of the new season.

That loss was only backed up by another loss on the road at an improving Arsenal. The difference this time, however, was that the Hammers had twice as many shots as Mikel Arteta’s men and looked more threatening at all times. And since then, the results have also followed against Wolves, Leicester City, Tottenham and now Manchester City. His epic three-goal comeback last weekend to tie at Spurs shows how far this Moyes team has come.

Michail Antonio, who has been a key cog in the Hammers’ recent good form, put the hosts ahead in the 19th minute against City when he acrobatically converted a Vladimir Coufal cross into the net from eight yards with a kick from bicycle. That led to a viewer in the BBC Sport live blog to acclaim West Ham for their ‘bubbles and bikes’. We all get carried away sometimes. It was his third goal of the season, with only Harry Kane (12) scoring more Premier League goals than Antonio (11) since the restart in June. His physique adds a lot to the way Moyes’ team plays, with the former Sheffield Wednesday striker flanked by the impressive Jarrod Bowen and Pablo Fornals on the attack. They are starting to form a deadly trio with the Hammers scoring 12 goals already this season.

City looked well below average against West Ham, especially before Phil Foden entered the field in the interval. Their attacking game seemed lacking in ideas until halftime before Foden started helping them advance. The English international got between the lines, found spaces and, above all, added energy to his attacks. It only took Foden six minutes to make a big impact when Joao Cancelo drilled the ball into the area and the 20-year-old picked up the ball, turned and threw the ball into the net.

Shortly after the City goal, West Ham was forced to replace Antonio, who left the field with an injury. The Hammers’ attacks were leggy after that as the Citizens sought to prevail in the match. The introduction of Andriy Yarmolenko, Antonio’s substitute, did not achieve the desired effect, while another substitute, Sebastien Haller, barely touched the ball during his passage through the field. Raheem Sterling and Riyad Mahrez had good chances at the end to snatch the win, but they didn’t and it will be another very good result for Moyes’s men.

The performance of City, which already looks like it needs to spend another £ 50m on a center back, prompted former West Ham and England goalkeeper Rob Green to testify in BBC Radio Five Live that “all the air of invincibility that they had in previous seasons has vanished.” It wasn’t City at its best, but this is still an extremely strong team, led by one of the best coaches in the world and will likely push all the way for the Premier League title once again. And that’s now eight points for West Ham in four games against teams that finished in the top seven last season.

When Moyes was re-elected last December, few eyebrows were raised, but the Hammers are finally pulling it off under their once highly skilled boss. Now they look like a team that will stay in games until the last minute, when last season they had collapsed. Declan Rice and Tomas Soucek give them a solid base in the middle, while Coufal looks like one of the bargains of the season. That front three is among the best in the division outside of the top six and will give West Ham confidence that they can secure a top-half result this period.

Joe williams

Will Chelsea fall into Manchester United’s trap again at Old Trafford? And is Virgil van Dijk really as big of a loss for Liverpool as has been claimed? Winty and Mark discuss what is sure to be a great weekend.



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