West Ham United have taken a step towards qualifying for the Europa Conference League’s quarter-finals after sealing a 2-0 win over AEK Larnaca at the AEK Arena on Thursday night.
Two first half goals from Michail Antonio sealed a round of 16 first leg victory over the Cypriot outfit, giving West Ham a huge advantage going into the second leg next Thursday night.
After seeing off their round of 16 opponents in the first leg despite having nervy spells in the game, here are the major talking points from the Hammers’ ninth straight win in the Europa Conference League this season.
READ NEXT : Every word David Moyes said on West Ham’s AEK Larnaca win, Kurt Zouma and Maxwel Cornet
A job done
West Ham headed to Cyprus off the back of 3-1 and 4-0 away defeats to Manchester United and Brighton and Hove Albion respectively, needing a boost in confidence from an away trip that saw them complete over 5,000 miles there and back.
On paper, the squad values alone of the two clubs highlighted why West Ham arguably had more to lose than they did to gain from this game, should they suffer an upset and for the opening 30 minutes or so, the prospect of Larnaca winning the tie, or even just going ahead, could not have been ruled out, although for all of their early waves of attack, Rafa Lopes’ header from a corner was their only chance of note.
While still naming a strong side, Moyes made seven changes from the starting side that lost at Brighton five days earlier and of those included midfielder Manuel Lanzini, keeping one his record as one of only two players to have started all nine matches in the competition this season. His shot from the edge of the penalty just after the half-hour mark went wide and did not trouble Larnaca’s Kenan Piric. But, it did act as a precursor for what would happen next.
Said Benrahma’s squirming run and shot on goal minutes later further cemented that point, but minutes after seeing his well-worked effort saved, Benrahma turned from almost-goalscorer to provider to give West Ham a needed injection of life in Cyprus.
After a good move down the left, his cross found an unmarked Antonio in the penalty box, whose glancing header across goal put the Hammers ahead, despite them doing very little to warrant leading before the goal.
West Ham then found themselves 2-0 up before the break in stunning fashion, considering they had struggled to remotely test their hosts for two thirds of the first half. A good passing move that saw Flynn Downes pass to Declan Rice, led to the latter fizzing a pass into Antonio’s feet. Antonio’s touch to his right allowed him to shoot unpressured from range and he bent a superb effort into the top corner in stunning fashion, his first game of scoring twice in the same match since August 2021 and his first before half-time since May of the same year.
At the start of the second half, Antonio almost netted a perfect hat-trick when Lanzini’s interception and quick feet led to playing Benrahma in down the left side, who squared it across goal for Antonio, whose left-footed shot crashed off the inside of the post for what would have been his first ever professional career perfect hat-trick.
On the hour mark, Rice, Antonio and Benrahma all came off after direct goal contributions and their exits allowed Larnaca to get back into the tie.
West Ham’s defence were needed again, as they were in the first third of the tie, with Larnaca piling plenty of late pressure onto the Hammers.
The fourth and fifth of West Ham’s five substitutes saw ex-Olympique Lyonnais duo Lucas Paqueta and Maxwel Cornet come on and the duo combined for a nearly superb counter attack. As Aaron Cresswell managed to hack away at a corner, a clever touch and spin from Cornet led to a counter attack, with his through ball putting Paqueta clean through on goal. However, like Antonio against Manchester United eight days earlier, put his shot straight at Larnaca goalkeeper Piric, a chance that would have already put the tie to bed.
Larnaca can take a lot of pride out of their performance, but it was not until the dying embers when Ivan Trichovski’s volley forced Areola into the only save of note he had to make.
Sure, 2-0 may not be the flattering scoreline West Ham will have hoped for, but what it was a win, a clean sheet and strong advantage going into the second leg. On top of that, with Danny Ings not featuring, the likes of Paqueta, Tomas Soucek and Jarrod Bowen all only coming off the bench late on, many were afforded a rest ahead of the crucial home Premier League game against Aston Villa on Sunday afternoon.
Michail Antonio’s mixed display
The 35 minutes that preceded Antonio’s opening goal was a performance which had many fans on social media questioning how he had been given the nod up front ahead of Gianluca Scamacca in the game.
However, having taken his header well off Benrahma’s cross to move to the club’s joint-top scorer this season in all competitions, it took him just ten minutes to turn one into two and become the club’s joint-top scorer in European history before half-time.
Given a bit of time and space on the edge of the penalty area, Antonio’s second goal was one even Moyes was surprised about in his post-match press conference, but a goal he knew West Ham needed and perhaps Antonio needed after a hit and miss season so far.
Moyes said that prior to his goal, he had not been happy with Antonio’s hold up play, something which first-team coach Kevin Nolan showed his frustrations about during the first half.
Had it not been for landing on the wrong part of the inside of the far post, West Ham would almost certainly have a place in the quarter-finals and Antonio would have a first career perfect hat-trick.
Coming off after an hour, most of Antonio’s performance had really been under par, losing the ball 12 times in his display, but his goals are the reason why West Ham are in the driving seat of this game and why he is now the club’s all-time joint-top scorer in European history.
A sign of the future?
For the first time since West Ham signed Nayef Aguerd from Stade Rennais for £30million last summer, West Ham manager Moyes started Aguerd and Zouma together at the heart of the defence in a back four.
For much of Aguerd’s career in a West Ham shirt to date, either he or Zouma has been injured, only starting once previously together in January’s win over Everton. So much so, Aguerd’s debut in the Premier League was in place of Zouma, a sign that Moyes has not had his ideal centre-back pairing available together at the same time.
However, there was a surprise in the starting line-up when Moyes opted to hand Zouma his first European start of the season and his first game back in the starting side after missing five weeks of action with a thigh issue sustained on his first game back from knee surgery, his only previous start with Aguerd.
In the game, both were forced to do more defending than expected, but passed their tests with flying colours, barring one nervy moment in possession which the duo got away with.
Of West Ham’s 27 clearances on the night, 12 were made by the duo, (Zouma 8, Aguerd 4) and it gave a good insight into the potential long-term future at the heart of West Ham’s back line.
Their combined transfer fees have commanded just under £60million combined, but if West Ham can keep both fit and available at the same time, they could make a huge difference in the Hammers’ exploits in the Premier League and Europe in the final two and a half months of the season.
Flynn Downes’ booking
One player who will not be involved in the second leg next week at the London Stadium is Flynn Downes, who was booked for a second half foul.
That caution was his third in the Europa Conference League, his third in Europe this term, meaning he will have to serve a one-match ban.
The 24-year-old has seen five of his 11 West Ham starts this season come in the Europa Conference League this term, with four starts in the group stage and a fifth against Larnaca.
Downes’ ban now means that one of Soucek or Paqueta, who only featured as second half substitutes, will have to start in the second leg, something which Moyes will have rather not have been forced into.
Maxwel Cornet’s cameo
For the final minutes of the game, Ivorian winger Cornet was brought into the fray after missing the last 25 matches with a calf injury.
Although Cornet played for just seven minutes, what West Ham got from him was a lot of signs to like and he almost added his fourth assist of the season, with a moment of magic in the second half.
Pouncing on a Cresswell clearance, Cornet’s clever flick and spin started a superb counter attack, with Cornet completing the move with a pass to put Paqueta clean through on goal, which he wasted.
Cornet completed all seven of his attempted passes and in that moment alone, showed exactly why West Ham spent £17.5million on him in August.
It is unlikely Cornet will play all that much until after this month’s international break, but in a Cyrpus cameo, showed what West Ham can look forward to in the final months of the season, with Cornet’s best performances in Claret and Blues so far coming in Europe.
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