West Ham United booked their place in the knockout rounds of the Europa Conference League with a 2-1 victory over Anderlecht on Thursday evening.
Goals from Said Benrahma and Jarrod Bowen before half-time were enough to seal top spot and move six points clear at the top of Group B with two games to go, with Sebastiano Esposito’s late penalty proving to be no more than a consolation.
The game was however marred late on by crowd trouble, with fans from the two sides clashing and missiles, including chairs and flares, being thrown. Here are the major talking points as West Ham made it back-to-back seasons in Europe’s knockout rounds.
READ MORE: Every word David Moyes said on West Ham’s Anderlecht win, crowd trouble and Jarrod Bowen
Knockout football secured
David Moyes set a challenge at the start of the season, getting West Ham to be playing European football after Christmas. A win over Anderlecht completed that quest exactly and with two group games to spare, needing only a point from their final two games with Silkeborg and FCSB in the next three weeks to seal top spot and go straight into the round of 16, taking place in March.
Given that the Hammers were sat just clear of the relegation zone when Moyes became the club’s manager for a second time just under three years ago, back-to-back seasons of European football is a fantastic achievement that all at West Ham can be proud of.
Benrahma set the tone early with a sensational free-kick from the edge of the penalty area inside the opening 15 minutes of the tie, with Bowen effectively sealing the deal before the half hour mark with his third goal in four starts since returning from a minuteless camp with England last month.
Anderlecht did give the hosts a late fright when Esposito converted from the spot in the game’s dying embers after a seemingly soft challenge from Ben Johnson. Esposito calmly sent Alphonse Areola the wrong way from 12 yards, setting a nail-biting late finish.
Still, West Ham got the win they desired and the three points that means they will be in the knockout rounds next year. From a financial and fixture congestion point of view, Moyes’ men will hope that they seal a place in the round of 16, and are a safe bet to do so, having won six games out of six in this competition so far this season.
A special win marred
A significantly higher presence of police and stewards in and outside of the London Stadium ahead of kick-off was a sign of perhaps what was to come during the game from some fans in attendance.
Ahead of kick-off, at least five flares were let off in the away section in the stands, while stewards and police were kept busy at the separation between two sets of fans.
In the second half, tensions raised higher with riot police required, chairs and missiles thrown from the away section of the separation point and flares being thrown.
In the days to come, it is expected that we will learn a clearer understanding of what happened on Thursday night, with Anderlecht condemning the events in their post-match press conference, apologising to West Ham and saying that they will be looking into what happened internally and with UEFA.
On top of that, a supporter from the home section also ran onto the pitch, needing several stewards to stop him after attempting, and failing, to get the ball off Areola after a pause in play.
Jarrod Bowen’s brilliance
In much more positive news, Bowen’s hot streak since the international break is continuing as he looks to put together a late bid to earn a spot in Gareth Southgate’s England squad for next month’s World Cup in Qatar.
Since returning from a September England camp that saw him be an unused substitute against Italy and not even make the squad to face Germany, Bowen has answered Moyes’ challenge of getting on a scoring run, netting three in four in all competitions.
The goal itself was excellent, being picked out on the edge of the penalty area before giving himself two touches to set himself up and fire a shot across goal, which Hendrik Van Crombrugge could not stop.
That goal moved Bowen to joint-top of the club’s list of all-time top scorers in Europe with six, alongside Johnny Byrne and David Cross, an impressive record considering he made his European debut 13 months ago and has only made 14 appearances across the Europa League and the Europa Conference League.
Bowen is the only player to have started all four games since the international break, but has shown the need for him, with three goals in that time. Moyes was able to give him a rest in the final third, with his impressive first half strike proving to be decisive in the tie.
Ben Johnson’s error
Defender Johnson can feel pretty hard done by that he gave away a penalty with just minutes to spare with Esposito doing enough to win a spot kick when challenging for the ball with just minutes on the clock.
On first viewing, it appeared that Johnson won the ball cleanly and in fact, Esposito kicked the defender as opposed to the other way round.
French referee Willy Delajod gave the spot-kick and Johnson was adamant he did not foul Esposito, making a television signal with his hands and asking for a VAR check.
However, Johnson may not have been aware that there is no VAR in this competition, not at this stage anyway, leaving him frustrated when hoping the decision would be overturned.
When football.london informed Moyes of Johnson’s mistake after the game, Moyes saw the funny side and has said he will be quick to make the defender aware of his error.
Double injury blow
Just when West Ham thought their injury issues were coming to an end, they suffered a double blow at the back against Anderlecht, with both coming in defence.
Angelo Ogbonna, who captained West Ham eight days ago in Brussels, came off midway through the first half with a suspected hamstring issue, a blow considering he has not long returned from an anterior cruciate ligament injury that kept him out of nine months of action, suffered last November.
Craig Dawson was the man to replace him, but he himself came off with 15 minutes to spare when suffering a dead leg shortly after colliding with teammate Flynn Downes.
Dawson had initially suffered the injury in Sunday’s win over Fulham, with Ogbonna and Dawson taken off as precautions, adding to an already three-man absence list of centre-back Nayef Aguerd (ankle), striker Michail Antonio (illness) and winger Maxwel Cornet (calf).
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