FULL TIME: West Ham United 1-0 Sunderland
M’Vila sends a high hail Mary into the box. Adrian rises to claim. And that’s it. How did that stay 1-0? Sunderland threw everything at West Ham in the second half, and carved out some decent chances, but couldn’t find the net. The hosts held firm, and they move up to fifth in the Premier League table. Sunderland stay in the relegation places. An entertaining match, if slightly light on quality. But quality can be over-rated: that was good fun. Not that Sam Allardyce, who trudges off glumly down the tunnel, will agree. No victory on his return to Upton Park. Ah well, he’ll be hoping to have another go at his former club next season, providing he can keep Sunderland up of course. If his players start taking some of these chances they’re creating, they’ve every chance.
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90 min +2: Sunderland load the box for a throw on the right. Yedlin launches it in. The ball drops towards M’Vila on the edge of the area, but his own man Rodwell gets in the way, and he can’t shoot.
90 min: There will be three added minutes. Upton Park is a tense venue right now.
89 min: Sunderland are seeing more of the ball, but passes aren’t sticking in the final third. Time is not their friend.
87 min: Van Aanholt sends Khazri into the West Ham box down the left. Khazri attempts a rabona, only for the ball to clank off his standing leg and out of play. He takes a fresh-air swipe, and sends himself skittering hysterically across the turf on his teeth. That’s ludicrous in so many ways, not least because time’s running out and you can’t be showboating like that in these circumstances. You’ll be seeing that again, I’ll be bound.
85 min: A free kick for Sunderland in the middle of the West Ham half. It’s lumped into the area by Khazri. Carroll heads out for a corner on the left. Van Aanholt sends the set piece screaming straight through the area and out on the other side. On the touchline, Sam Allardyce is loading up with gum. Many small pieces are in his mouth now, moving around like mad molecules. He knows this isn’t over yet.
83 min: Payet slips a marvellous pass down the inside-left channel for Antonio, who tries to shuttle it on to the underlapping Cresswell. But the ball’s played behind the full back. Then another wave of West Ham attack. Payet chests down, just to the left of the D, and whips a volley inches wide right. Mannone was beaten all ends up.
82 min: Noble is replaced by Obiang.
80 min: Kirchhoff makes another delightful defence-splitting pass, this time down the inside-left channel, to release N’Doye into the West Ham area. N’Doye curls low towards the bottom right, but Adrian parries with a strong hand. Rodwell, picking up the loose ball on the other side, yet again can’t get a clean shot away. Sunderland have given this a real go in the second half. It’s not clear how they’ve failed to score.
78 min: How is this still 1-0? A heavy touch by Byram in his own area sets Rodwell up, ten yards from goal! He must score, but Byram recovers to get a block in at full stretch, and Rodwell’s shot is deflected over the bar. The resulting corner ripples the side netting.
76 min: And now West Ham hit the woodwork again! Noble, out on the left, hits diagonally and deep towards Byram at the right-hand post. Byram heads across and down towards Carroll, who meets the ball first time with a rasping Zidane-style volley from six yards. He’s got to score, but somehow the ball twangs off the crossbar, is cushioned by Van Aanholt just in front of the line, and into Mannone’s arms. It’s slightly surprising that the goalframe hasn’t crumbled into splinters.
74 min: A long ball down the inside right. Kone shepherds it out of play, but not without needlessly handling Payet into touch. On another day, a referee’s pointing to the penalty spot. It would have been a soft one, but you’ve seen them given. Not this time, though. And seconds later, Sunderland have the ball in the net up the other end! But it won’t count. Kirchhoff slide-rules a gorgeous pass down the right to release Yedlin into the box. Yedlin reaches the byline and pulls it back for Rodwell on the penalty spot. Rodwell opens his body up, and sidefoots powerfully towards the bottom left. But Adrian sticks a boot out to make a marvellous save! The rebound clanks into Rodwell’s hanging arm. Rodwell spins and dispatches the ball into the unguarded right-hand portion of the net, but having handled, it’s never going to be given. Sunderland so close.
72 min: Khazri - who has been Sunderland’s greatest threat today, although that’s not saying a whole load - takes the free kick. He gets it up and over the wall, but without pace. As the ball sails towards the bottom left, Adrian scuttles over to catch the gently dropping effort.
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71 min: N’Doye powers down the middle before playing a clever reverse pass down the inside-left channel for Defoe. Yellow card magnet Byram bundles Defoe over. That’s his 10th booking of the season, and he’ll miss the next two matches. And this is a free kick in a dangerous position.
69 min: Moses cuts in from the left and sends a low shot towards the bottom-left corner. It’s weak and easily gathered by Mannone. Sunderland go up the other end through Yedlin, who makes ground on the right but can’t find anyone in the area with his pull-back from deep.
68 min: Antonio gets on the end of a Carroll knock-down, just inside the Sunderland area on the right. He crosses, hits O’Shea on the chest, and claims a penalty kick. No dice! The ball breaks to Payet, to the right of the D. He sends a screamer over the bar. He’s been uncharacteristically off today, Payet. Still plenty of time to do something jaw-dropping, of course.
66 min: Rodwell is immediately into the action, battling Ogbonna and Kouyate as he bustles down the left wing. He nearly gets past the West Ham pair, but not quite, and runs the ball out of play for a goal kick. But this is an attacking substitution by Allardyce. Sunderland really need something from this match. Sunderland really need something from every remaining match. There’s little room for error.
65 min: Lanzini can’t complete 90 minutes on his comeback. He’s withdrawn in favour of Moses. Meanwhile Sunderland make their first change, swapping Cattermole for Rodwell.
63 min: Payet tries to free Lanzini on the left. Sunderland are woefully light at the back, but for once the West Ham midfielder plays a poor ball. Stop the press!
60 min: Space and time for M’Vila, 25 yards from goal in a central position. He looks to curl one into the top right, but his effort is weak and wide. He grabs at thin air in frustration. “Not being a top, top reader I misread Sunderland’s gesture as them giving free shirts to West Ham fans,” writes Ian Copestake. “As a result I wasn’t sure why they were being praised other than for bringing sarcasm back into the game.” It’s an idea, though. And people thought half-and-half scarves were the living end.
59 min: Bilic, aware his team need jolting into action, replaces the invisible Emenike with Carroll.
58 min: Defoe is going nowhere 25 yards from goal, just to the left of the West Ham goal. He’s needlessly upended by Noble. A free kick in a very dangerous position. But N’Doye blasts it witlessly into the West Ham wall. No Philippe Coutinho he. However, West Ham can’t keep carrying on like this: they’ve been asleep since the restart. A more confident team than Sunderland would have equalised by now.
55 min: Khazri and Byram get involved in a playful shoving match as Van Aanholt prepares to throw into the area. All good natured, though the crowd don’t think so. West Ham appear distracted, as Khazri and Van Aanholt combine to spring the latter into the box. Van Aanholt, who owes his team something today after his part in the West Ham goal, blasts a wild shot over the bar from 12 yards. A chance to get something on target at the very least.
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52 min: Sunderland have come out with renewed purpose. Khazri, who has been lively today bordering on excellent, nearly Cruyff Turns his way between two men down the left. He then floats a deep cross dangerously towards the far post, but neither Defoe nor N’Doye can rise to meet it with a header from close range.
51 min: Lanzini makes off down the left and earns a corner off Cattermole. Payet and Noble attempt the old Beckham-Scholes routine, but Payet’s ball is too floaty, Noble can’t meet it with a volley, and Kirchhoff comes out to block.
49 min: Defoe misses another sitter. Khazri skitters in from the left, draws a couple of claret shirts, and slips a ball down the inside-left channel to release Defoe into the box. Defoe’s low curler across Adrian sails wide right. He should have scored. His blushes are spared when the offside flag goes up, though only in strict theoretical terms, because not for the first time, it’s an incorrect decision by the linesman.
47 min: A quiet start to the half suddenly explodes when Collins misjudges Cattermole’s basic lump down the inside-right channel. Defoe is free on the edge of the area, meeting a dropping ball! But he pulls it woefully wide right of goal, to the audible joy of the home support.
And we're off again!
West Ham set the ball rolling for the second half. Sunderland now have the worse defensive record in the 2015-16 Premier League: 51 goals conceded. But they have scored in 10 of their previous 13 away games, so there is hope.
Half-time reading: Hats off to Sunderland for this. Every little helps, as some rather more rapacious capitalists once said.
HALF TIME: West Ham United 1-0 Sunderland
An entertaining half comes to an end. Sunderland were, on the whole, containing their hosts, but Van Aanholt’s mistake and Antonio’s fine run and finish has tipped the balance in West Ham’s favour. Sunderland need a response in the second-half. They found one against both Manchester City and Liverpool, with varying results. Can they do it again here? We’ll find out soon enough.
44 min: Kirchoff, playing at quarterback, tries to release Yedlin down the Sunderland right. Not quite, but full marks for ambition. Otherwise, there’s a general sense that both teams will be happy to hear the half-time whistle: West Ham to put their feet up after a job well done, Sunderland so they can re-inflate their spirit.
42 min: Allardyce refuses to give the ball to Cresswell, as West Ham prepare to take a quick throw. All good-natured, and performed in the comedic style. Both manager and player enjoy the moment and a good laugh, but the home crowd aren’t so enamoured with their erstwhile boss, and a few boos ring out. It had to happen at some point.
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40 min: Byram, who likes a basic challenge every now and then, bowls N’Doye over on the Sunderland left. From the free kick, Van Aanholt romps down the wing and wins a corner. It’s hit deep by Khazri, but Defoe can’t rise to connect at the far post. Adrian gathers. That’s a little better from Sunderland, who have looked rather deflated since spoiling all their good early work.
37 min: M’Vila floats an easy-to-intercept crossfield ball to the Sunderland right. Payet steps in and romps down the West Ham left. He earns a corner off Kone. From the set piece, the ball’s shuttled to Antonio out on the right. He’s got his back to goal, 25 yards out. He flicks it up, spins, and unleashes a dipper towards the bottom right. Memo to Adrian: that’s how to make like Le Tissier. Mannone gets down to turn the ball around the post for a corner. A marvellous save, and the corner comes to nothing. What an effort from Antonio, though!
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35 min: Lanzini jinks down the middle of the park, and looks for the top corner from 25 yards. Nope!
32 min: Big Sam slumps back in his chair, hands forced into his coat pockets. He’s chewing quite a lot. I wouldn’t fancy being Van Aanholt at half-time, though I’d pay ready money to be a fly on the dressing-room wall.
GOAL! West Ham United 1-0 Sunderland (Antonio 30)
West Ham score out of nothing! A hopeful punt down the right touchline should be dispatched into the stand by Van Aanholt. But the Sunderland full back attempts a clever flick back up the wing. It’s intercepted by Antonio, who squeezes past a couple of neon-green shirts and into the box, before carefully passing one across Mannone and into the bottom-left corner! A glorious finish, but what on earth was Van Aanholt thinking there? And Sunderland looking pretty comfortable too.
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29 min: Sunderland have done well so far, restricting West Ham to that long-range Noble bash. The crowd have gone a little quiet. And having said that ...
27 min: Sam Allardyce is out on the touchline screaming “Long throw! Long throw!” Yedlin launches it into the West Ham area. Head tennis. It’s eventually cleared by the home side, but they didn’t look particularly comfortable there. On another day, that might have fallen to the lurking Defoe. It’s almost as though Allardyce knows exactly what he’s talking about, isn’t it.
25 min: Cresswell is rather foolishly upended by N’Doye as he makes good down the left. A chance for West Ham to load the box now, and for Payet to take one of his trademark free kicks. He curls it in with menace, but it’s cleared by O’Shea. It’s not the highest quality match you’ll ever see, but since when has quality been the be-all and end-all? This is good end-to-end fun right now.
23 min: ... Khazri hits the bar! He loops one direct towards the top left, with everyone expecting the common-or-garden cross, the box loaded with players. He nearly catches Adrian out. Not quite, but it twangs off the top of the crossbar. That’s one each, then.
22 min: Sunderland earn a corner on the left. Van Aanholt fires it into the side netting. But from the goal kick, the ball’s played back to Adrian, who suddenly decides to showcase his Le Tissier flick-up skills. What nonsense. He’s charged down by Khazri, and the ball nearly balloons back into the net. Instead, it breaks to the Sunderland right, where Cresswell upends Kirchoff in a challenge for the loose ball. Free kick, to the right of the West Ham box. From which ...
20 min: West Ham hit the bar! Lanzini sashays in from the left, drops a shoulder to skate past a couple of challenges, then lays off to Noble, powering down the inside-right channel. From 25 yards, Noble creams a rising shot towards the top right. It’s going in, but Mannone gets a fingertip to the ball, and pushes it onto the underside of the bar. The ball bounces out. Emenike can’t follow up with a header, and he’s offside anyway.
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19 min: Antonio Rory Delaps a throw into the Sunderland box from the right. The ball’s allowed to drop into the six-yard box. Penny for Sam Allardyce’s thoughts. Yedlin eventually hoofs away from danger.
17 min: Cresswell has been West Ham’s most dangerous threat so far. The full back again strides down the left, and whips a low cross into the six-yard box. Mannone makes a nine-course tasting menu of gathering, but gather he does, eventually.
16 min: It’s all gone a bit scrappy. Then, suddenly, Kirchoff sticks a boot in to dispossess Kouyate in the centre circle. Cattermole latches onto the loose ball and slide-rules Defoe clear down the middle! Defoe takes a step into the box and pokes straight at Adrian, who smothers. The flag goes up for offside anyway, though it was an incorrect decision: the striker was level with the last defender when the pass was played. So close to the opener.
13 min: Cattermole charges down Ogbonna’s clearance. Kirchoff picks up the loose ball, but his first-time pass forward for Defoe is too strong. Then Sunderland come again at the Hammers, Cresswell misjudging a bouncer down the right wing. N’Doye would have been through on goal had he not slipped over while Cresswell was making his mistake.
11 min: Kouyate goes on a purposeful stride down the middle, before sliding the ball down the inside-left channel for the ambitious Cresswell. The resulting pass inside, meant for Emenike, isn’t up to much. West Ham are slowly asserting themselves here.
9 min: A couple of long balls nearly come off. First Cresswell is sent scampering after a hoof down the West Ham left. He cuts inside but is harried off it by Kone. Then up the other end, Defoe very nearly latches onto an agricultural hoick down the middle, but the ball is carried on a fairly strong wind back to Adrian.
7 min: After a bright start, Sunderland are having a little difficulty staying on the ball. West Ham knock it around the back awhile, maybe with a view to staying warm. It’s very cold in east London.
5 min: Van Aanholt rather clumsily and needlessly gives away a corner down the West Ham right. From the set piece, Payet dribbles around on the wing and earns another. That one’s hooked clear by M’Vila. Both teams are showing a fair bit of ambition in attack. Positive mindsets. Meanwhile, it transpires that a job lot of free away shirts have been distributed among the Sunderland travelling support, hence the preponderance of that particular neon garment. That’s a stylish move by Sunderland, at least in one respect.
3 min: But West Ham only half clear that second corner, and Khazri is soon bursting into the box down the right. Fortunately for the home team, there’s nobody but Collins in the six-yard box, and the big West Ham defender can blooter clear.
2 min: A bit of space for Cattermole down the right. He looks to hook the ball into the area, but it comes off Cresswell for the first corner of the match. And then there’s another corner as Ogbonna heads behind. Emenike clears that one.
And we're off!
Jermain Defoe - a fair bit more unpopular round these parts than Sam Allardyce, after chipping off to Spurs with extreme prejudice in 2004 - gets the ball rolling. It’s soon sent sailing out of play on the right.
The teams are out! A marvellous atmosphere at Upton Park, with bubbles flying around like billy-o. That machine’s forever blowing them. West Ham are bedecked in the Victorian splendour of their claret-and-blue kit. Sunderland are in nuclear-power-plant-incident green. Tradition’s not the be-all and end-all. And in fairness, that shirt seems popular with the travelling support: the away end is a verdant pleasure. We’ll be off in a minute or two!
Sam Allardyce was interviewed on tape earlier. He’s hoping to get a good reception today. “It’d be nice.” All the news that’s fit to print.
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Slaven Bilic speaks! “It is a special game for Sam, he was a very long time here. They don’t need special motivation because of their league position, though. And they will be very confident after their last couple of results. Any team in the world would have taken those results, Liverpool away and Manchester United at home. So we are expecting a very difficult game. We have to be direct, but at the same time patient. They are organised and dangerous. But our form is good and we are confident. It was difficult to leave Pedro Obiang and Victor Moses out, because they were playing well but it is good that we have options. Manuel Lanzini is one of our key players.”
This week marked the 23rd anniversary of Bobby Moore’s passing. It’s the last time the West Ham and England legend can be remembered at the old ground he graced between 1958 and 1974, so respectful tributes are in order. Some of the heroes of the 1960s will take to the pitch at half time in order to commemorate the great man. The fans meanwhile have already been doing their thing outside Upton Park...
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West Ham make three changes to the team that routed Blackburn Rovers in the FA Cup last weekend. Adrian, Sam Byram and Manuel Lanzini are in; Darren Randolph, Pedro Obiang and Victor Moses all drop to the bench.
Sunderland name the same starting XI that beat Manchester United a fortnight ago. Hey, if it ain’t broke.
The teams
West Ham United: Adrian, Byram, Ogbonna, Collins, Cresswell, Kouyate, Noble, Lanzini, Antonio, Emenike, Payet.
Subs: Randolph, Song, Carroll, Obiang, Moses, Henry, Oxford.
Sunderland: Mannone, Yedlin, Kone, O’Shea, Van Aanholt, Kirchhoff, N’Doye, Cattermole, M’Vila, Khazri, Defoe.
Subs: Jones, Larsson, Rodwell, Borini, Pickford, Kaboul, Toivonen.
Referee: Mike Dean (Wirral).
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Good morning!
A point for West Ham United will propel the Hammers into the European places; a point for Sunderland will see the Mackems rise above the relegation waterline. A big match this, then, for both teams. Yet it’s really all about Big Sam, isn’t it.
You can make a case that Sam Allardyce saved West Ham United. He rescued them from the Championship, then consolidated their status as a Premier League team. No thrashing around helplessly in the lower reaches a la Middlesbrough, Fulham, Leeds, Wolves or Sheffield Wednesday for the Hammers.
That achievement is undeniable, and in its own way the product of a brilliant mind. Then again, football fans pay vast quantities of cash money for their tickets - it’s easy for writers to spin intellectual beauty out of pragmatic football when they get into the stadium for free - and are therefore permitted to dream. West Ham fans self-identify as connoisseurs of fantasy football, which is fair enough. Allardyce called them “deluded”, but under new boss Slaven Bilic the Hammers are suddenly playing their prettiest stuff since the mid 1980s, harbouring dreams of European football next season, maybe even a first FA Cup for 36 years. Some delusion.
As usual, the truth is almost certainly somewhere in the middle. Bilic is adamant that he couldn’t be doing any of this had Allardyce not built solid foundations. He thinks West Ham fans should applaud their former boss today rather than giving him the bird. “Sam did a great job here. He left me an organised training ground, some key players, he made my job a bit easier, and I appreciate it.” So it’ll be interesting to see what reception the big man receives. Ten pee says it’s a light smattering of indifferent applause and a total non-story. Forget I said anything.
The Hammers will be favourites this afternoon. They’re coming off the back of a 5-1 FA Cup statement win at Blackburn, and in Dimitri Payet boast the player of the season. But Allardyce is doing his ship-steadying thing once more: Sunderland were desperately unlucky to lose at home to Manchester City, came from two down to earn a point at Liverpool, and hustled Manchester United out of it at the Stadium of Light for a crucial three points. There is hope! Another good result here - at a ground where Sunderland haven’t won since 2011 - and Sam will be heading back to Wearside with a great big grin spread across his boat. Of course, he’d only be thinking about the points in the context of Sunderland’s survival bid. Of course he would. Big Sam’s up for it. And it, ladies and gentlemen, is on!
Kick off: 12.45pm.
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