A tough win: The scoreline might not suggest it, but this was far from comfortable for West Ham. Leeds had three or four excellent second half chances, and had Patrick Bamford been more clinical in front of goal, this could have easily gone the other way.

Nevertheless, given that was the final game of the round, and the Hammers were 7th going into it following wins for both Tottenham and Chelsea, it was an excellent result to get them back into fifth. They are just behind fourth placed Chelsea but do have a game in hand over the Blues.

Leeds have two goals disallowed in the first 7 minutes: Apart from the second half chances they created, Leeds had two goals disallowed in the opening 7 minutes of the game. One was clear cut- the ball had clearly gone out of play before Raphinha’s cross, but the other was tighter, and it was by a very small margin that Helder Costa was ruled offside for Tyler Roberts’ goal.

Leeds dominated the opening 15 odd minutes, with 70% of the ball, and had they scored in that period, this might have been a tough evening for the Hammers.

Both loanees score for West Ham: “Jesse Lingard and Craig Dawson score for West Ham as they maintain their CL hopes” is certainly not the headline Hammers fans would have had in mind at this time last year!

The goals came in the 21st and 27th minutes of the game- an excellent response after Leeds had been in total control for the opening 15 odd minutes. [Read more…]

Hammers outscore City on xG

How many times do you see City beaten on xG? Not often, but this was one such rare occasion. Under David Moyes, West Ham aren’t really what you’d call an attacking side, but this shows that they defended pretty well and created more clear cut chances than Pep Guardiola’s side.

As Pep himself said after the match, they realised after 10-15 minutes that today “wasn’t the day to paint something beautiful” and was simply one “to take three points”

Both City goals scored by defenders: A moment of genius from the returning Kevin de Bruyne, who had been off-colour till then, saw City take the lead through Ruben Dias- the Portuguese’s first in the league for City. Interestingly, both Dias and central defensive partner John Stones were in the box well after the original corner in the buildup to the goal had been taken!

Stones scored the second after the interval. Not often that you see two defenders scoring in a team blessed with attacking talent as City are, but this was one such occasion. [Read more…]