Home comforts: West Ham are enjoying life at London Stadium
(Picture: AFP via Getty Images)Midway through Monday night’s meeting at the London Stadium, a chant went up from the travelling Bournemouth section of: “Where’s your famous atmosphere?”
Presumably, it was a taunt referencing that which the Hammers left behind following their departure from the Boleyn Ground in 2016, rather than any accusation of false advertising at their new home where - just as famously - atmosphere has been slow to build.
Little by little, though, home comforts have been emerging, helped emphatically by the genuinely raucous Europa League nights staged here last season, most notably the extra-time win over Sevilla in the last-16 and the home leg of the quarter-final tie against Lyon.
This 2-0 victory over Bournemouth was another small but not insignificant milestone, a fifth home win on the bounce in all competitions for the first time since the move from Upton Park.
“It’s a minimum requirement that, in our stadium, we win football matches,” captain Declan Rice had said last week, though the Irons needed a helping hand from VAR to be set on their way to victory here as Kurt Zouma’s opener was allowed to stand despite Thilo Kehrer’s volleyball antics in the build-up.
“We’ve had a bundle of bad decisions, as well,” was Moyes’ unsympathetic but hardly unjustified take afterwards, and even in an age where a VAR operating remotely really ought to remove a degree of instantaneous subjectivity, is it merely a coincidence that the poor calls which have so irked the Scot this season have all come on the road?
At Stamford Bridge last month, in particular, the ridiculous decision to chalk off Maxwel Cornet’s late equaliser prompted furious accusations of so-called “big club bias”, so it seems only fair to point out that here was a newly-promoted side finding little in their favour at the home of one of the more established elite.
The Cherries did get away with one when Jefferson Lerma’s high-tackle on Gianluca Scamacca somehow passed without VAR intervention and a red card, but the home victory was confirmed when Jordan Zemura handled Vladimir Coufal’s cross and Said Benrahma converted from 12 yards.
The Hammers’ flying home run began with the Europa Conference League victory over FCSB on September 8 - regrettably, a few days after Liz Truss had replaced Boris Johnson, meaning the obligatory count of Conservative Party leaders across the same period stands at a measly two - and will be expected to extend to six when Silkeborg visit in the same competition in two days’ time.
That sequence goes some way to explaining the retained sense of optimism around the club: even as Moyes’ men kicked-off last night in 17th, the vast majority of match-going fans had not seen their side lose in the flesh in more than two months.
With Crystal Palace, Leicester City and, in the Carabao Cup, Blackburn to visit before the World Cup, it is hardly inconceivable that the Irons go into the winter break having won nine-in-a-row on their own patch.
Take the same form on the road to Old Trafford on Sunday and things will really start looking up.
