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One for the purists and those of more trashy persuasion, this game had a lot. Goals, tackles, tricks, shots from the point, fake and fouls. There was also a long cameo for a fan favorite; the fractional offside awarded by video. It was a contest that could have been broken either way, but he did it in West Ham’s favor.
They climb to fifth place in the table, after a goal at the beginning of each half from Angelo Ogbonna and Jarrod Bowen proved enough to contain a rampant Jack Grealish and a cursed Ollie Watkins. The Villa forward shot a penalty against the crossbar and disallowed a goal for the slow and exasperating reasons mentioned above.
“I am delighted to get three points,” said David Moyes. “It was not our best performance, but it was tough and against a good team that has done well away from home. But I really don’t like a lot of the offside rules at the moment and I don’t think they’re improving the game at all. “
The pre-match dispatches had mainly focused on the return of Michail Antonio to West Ham XI rather than Sébastien Haller, who had finally found some form. Antonio’s physique, pace and determination put the jeepers ahead of Villa from the start and the chaos he caused led to the opening goal.
A shot from Tomas Soucek had already been desperately blocked by Matt Targett in the first minute before West Ham scored from the next corner. Bowen passed a high cross past a defense distracted by Antonio to the back post, where Ogbonna bounced off a header past Emiliano Martinez.
West Ham’s direct play and physical threat looked like it was going to cut Villa to pieces, but the visitors weathered the storm and West Ham’s penetrating play became indiscriminate. Suddenly it was Villa who was holding the ball, more than that they were hoarding it.
In the 25th minute, Villa came back into the game through Grealish. He had passed the first quarter in a contest with Vladimir Coufal to see who could take the cutest foul. But when Matty Cash drove a cross ball low to his stomach, Grealish didn’t look for a touch or a bite. He pinged the ball around Coufal for the first time and sent the infield into acres of space. The defenders fell back and a fierce attack from right to left followed; a small detour helped Lukasz Fabianski pass.
Villa had two more decent chances before the break, Watkins stabbing wide after a beautiful passing movement and a deft effort by Conor Hourihane from a free kick that went into the side net.
He spurred Moyes into action with Antonio at halftime for Haller and Saïd Benrahma replacing Arthur Masuaku. “The team was told very clearly that they weren’t playing well,” Moyes said.
Playing the adventurous forward on the wing was a bold move, but it paid off in seconds when Benrahma found Bowen with a delicious short chip in the box. Bowen threw his header easily past Martinez.
In a recast of the first part, Villa and Grealish returned again. Trezeguet couldn’t believe his eyes when Fabianski stopped a shot at point-blank range after a good job from Watkins. The forward found himself doing the same in the 74th minute when, following a soft penalty decision for a jerk on Trezeguet’s shirt, he smashed his kick against the crossbar.
More infuriating, however, would come on the later shots, when Watkins had a quiet blow from a Grealish pass ruled out by an offside arm. The call was incredibly marginal, the sight of Ogbonna’s arms around Watkins’ shoulders much clearer. The referee, Peter Bankes, didn’t even look at his monitor.
“It was wrong. That was the easiest way to describe it,” said Dean Smith. “They’ve taken a part of the body that you can’t score a goal with offside and it’s fouled by a guy with two. arms around the neck. If it’s not a goal, it’s a penalty. “
