WEST HAM survived a late fightback from Crystal Palace to win 3-2 at Selhurst Park to help David Moyes celebrate two years in charge with another three points.
Two goals in three first-half minutes helped the Hammers take control of the London derby with Michail Antonio’s ninth goal of the season opening the scoring after 22 minutes before Manuel Lanzini produced a sumptuous finish soon after.
Lanzini added a second from the penalty spot but late efforts by Odsonne Edouard and Michael Olise set up a grandstand finish, only for West Ham to hold out to make it back-to-back victories.
The hosts were boosted by the return of boss Patrick Vieira after his period of isolation for testing positive for Covid-19 ended but there were various other Palace absentees including Conor Gallagher, Cheikhou Kouyate and Wilfried Zaha.
Jeffrey Schlupp was one of those still available in midfield and having scored the club’s last goal of 2021, he should have grabbed their first of the new year inside 60 seconds but hit the post from six-yards after a Jordan Ayew cutback.
West Ham had their backs to the wall during the opening exchanges and yet burst into life just before quarter of an hour when Vicente Guaita was tested twice in quick succession.
The Hammers’ full-backs Ben Johnson and Vladimir Coufal combined to set up Antonio, who saw a volley saved before Guaita palmed away the loose ball and then reacted superbly to thwart a follow-up header by Pablo Fornals.
It was now Moyes’ side in the ascendency and unlike Palace they made their dominance count with two goals in quick succession.
Antonio, who struck in the 2-2 draw between the teams in August, broke the deadlock after 22 minutes when he guided home Said Benrahma’s tantalising deep cross from the left.
Palace had barely gathered the ball out of their net when it was 2-0, with the returning Declan Rice playing a key role for the visitors.
The England international carried the ball from inside his own half and spotted the run of Lanzini, who produced a sensational couple of touches to get past Joachim Andersen before he rifled high into the net.
Vieira’s men recovered well and Edouard smashed against the crossbar after more good work by Ayew while Christian Benteke was denied on two occasions by Lukasz Fabianski, but a costly error by the home captain put the result to bed at half-time.
Luka Milivojevic attempted to control a bouncing ball which flicked his arm and was deemed inside the penalty area by referee Darren England after VAR told the official to review the incident on the pitchside monitor.
WOW! 😍
— Sky Sports Premier League (@SkySportsPL) January 1, 2022
Manuel Lanzini doubles #WHUFC's lead with a sensational finish - it doesn't get much better than that! 🔥 pic.twitter.com/uiJSOCLlSp
Lanzini made no mistake from 12 yards deep into first-half stoppage-time for his fifth goal of the season.
Palace attempted to rally after the break and Edouard fired two efforts off target before he snatched at another following a fine lay-off by substitute Jean-Philippe Mateta, who had also been joined on the pitch by Olise.
West Ham remained a threat and Antonio almost grabbed another with a strike that sailed wide before a nervy finale occurred for the away side.
Olise picked out Edouard inside the area and the forward poked home with seven minutes left, before the substitute reduced the deficit even more.
A free kick from Olise on the right evaded everyone to find the net in the 90th minute but Mateta was unable to complete a remarkable comeback when his spectacular overhead kick attempt went off target in added time.
It ensured Moyes, who has transformed the club since his appointment at the end of 2019, watched West Ham move within a point of the top-four.
Are they even bothered with a HCup anymore? This has serious repercussions for all rugby north & south. They will be able to buy anyone they want. Bad news if you ask me.
Did they put the lic price up that much ?
Only deal that rte works on
That’s modern day sport, if they have the money they can buy who they want, good luck to them.
Maybe its time to bring in transfer deadlines and salary caps to bring the money under control. The IRB and Unions might consider introducing an American Football style player draft system or at least waivers and franchise player protection etc. Something needs to be done to limit the power of the privately owned clubs and enable other clubs to keep their marquis players. The present set-up is very destructive to the game overall.
“Salary Caps” are already in place and as of last year were the average of the top 5 clubs in the top 14. There are also foreign player restrictions and if correct following their escalating scale it now should be that no more than 30% of the whole squad can be foreign nationals. That said there are many loopholes in French law that allow manipulation of the salary and squad.
The quality of rugby on show in the top 14 is somewhat embarrassing given the money they fork out, you have the best Southern Hemisphere backs around but you might as well have statues given the rarity of the ball coming past the 9-10 channel, some clubs might strengthen, to be honest this is a infrastructure development opportunity for most or profit off the top( very little after tax) for some, the SANZA won’t want to be caught idle here, the Rabo is crumbling and now the RCC looks like bloody pittance compared to this deal, some dark days ahead for non French fans and French fans who loved their passionate and traditional game, the gravy train has arrived and it’s going to crash through the foundations of the game and bring everything crumbling down.
The top14 might be dour at times but its hard competitive rugby played generally in stadia with a great atmosphere.
Bernard jack man debunks a few myths about French rugby http://www.independent.ie/sport/rugby/vincent-hogan-they-dont-bring-them-here-to-get-smashed-to-bits-29917191.html
If the huge influx of non French players into the Top 14 continues do you think the French national team will suffer ? Lots of non frogs in vital positions.
My guess is yes…….(see English soccer team). Might take a few seasons to kick in but Im fairly sure it will happen.
The still have 14 pro teams to choose from, we have only have four, can their pick be as small as ours?
Run the stats – 4 Irish teams vs 7 French teams – 2 French teams through probably through to quarters in HCup versus 3 Irish teams. Reckon we’re doing ok and French teams need to think outside Top14.
But he’s talking about the French international team, any link in form between HEC & international rugby has been debunked a long time ago. Just look at Ireland & wales’s respective form in both competitions.
All French Final and constant finalists and winners so can’t say French not interested. Going to destroy rugby like football with the money. Real shame, Heineken Cup is a genuinely enjoyable level competition. Look at the range if winners in the 20 years of competition.
How many different winners last 20 years of champions league. There will always be upsets.
Enjoyable because the provinces are competitive, I wonder does it have the same appeal in Scotland and/or Italy? Or here, should the provinces struggle year in, year out.
This tv deal has been well touted, it’s not good news, a couple of million more per French club, per year. Plus they’ll be getting a bigger slice of the HEC pie, if there is a HEC next year, the French are still in disagreement over who will run it.
Whats the TV money for the Pro12 worth per year?
10 shillings and 6pence compared to this
Very good question. I’d love to know the answer if anyone has the info?
Ireland brings about €900,000 to the table, bbc wales i think pays €3,000,000 the Scottish & itallians minimal.
Possibly close,probably not,lol
And supposedly the french aren’t getting enough money
Wonder what Me McCafferty & PRL think of all this? Jealous Moi!!!
Money in is good for development etc… These players deserve more money for entertaining us…
Maybe the Celtic and English should merge into a B&I League (Premier and Championship), that would draw the crowds and provide an alternative to the Pro14. Crazy money for an average league, really only 6-8 decent teams in there.
That would be a mouth watering prospect. However i can’t see the privately owned English clubs willing to play their league against our union run provinces. I mean all bias aside, would you want your club playing against sides which are wall to wall irish internationals? They find it hard to compete with the provinces at HEC level, why would they throw away their chances of domestic silverware. Unless the IRFU Agreed to their salary cap per province.
Do you really think Leicester does not represent the region , or the four big clubs in London do not draw from a population of 5 million.
Missing my point. The IRFU pays the wages of the Irish players. If you owned a club in England, which has to finance itself, would you be prepared to play against union financed teams every week? I wouldn’t.
The English players bring money to the clubs from the RFU I’m sure it’s pretty much the same but a different system.
Where are the other 13 deals? Article only lists 1.
I don’t think the French ever bothered with H cup. Look at sexton top of H cup class . Mediocre in top 14. It’s a different world to the subsidized world of irfu rugby
I couldn’t agree more, the unbalance is obvious, in the French and English leagues clubs have to fight weekly for their very survival, meanwhile irish provinces sit pretty and use rabo to prepare their top form for HC. The myth of irish provinces in HC has never convinced me
I guess that was what was required to make irish pro teams truly competitive, but it used to annoy me when our media used to dress HC wins as David v goliath affairs
Yes resting players and playing low intensity rugby has only been suggested as a method of improving performance by the English. Normally the higher standard or greater competitiveness is expected to improve results and battle hardened players. But if Irish teams win its because their resting.
When noël? They still do.
Remember that question in the KerryGold ad – Who’s taking the horse to France? ….You can take your pick from Joe’s list today…………with some exceptions of course.That money is not good for Irish rugby I think…………..Ah You (Connacht), S Archer (Munster), R Best (Ulster), R Copeland (Cardiff Blues), S Cronin (Leinster), R Diack (Ulster), C Healy, J Heaslip (both Leinster), I Henderson, C Henry, R Herring (all Ulster), D Kilcoyne (Munster), M McCarthy, J McGrath, M Moore, Jordi Murphy (all Leinster), P O’Connell, T O’Donnell, P O’Mahony (all Munster), M Ross, R Ruddock, D Toner (all Leinster), D Tuohy (Ulster), D Varley (Munster), I Boss (Leinster), D Cave (Ulster), G D’Arcy (Leinster), K Earls (Munster), L Fitzgerald (Leinster), R Henshaw (Connacht), P Jackson (Ulster), F Jones (Munster), D Kearney, R Kearney (both Leinster), I Keatley (Munster), I Madigan (Leinster), K Marmion (Connacht), L Marshall (Ulster), F McFadden (Leinster), C Murray (Munster), B O’Driscoll, E Reddan (both Leinster), J Sexton (Racing Metro), A Trimble (Ulster).
That’s some copy and paste job there. Well done!
Right so im off to France…..addios..
Got to hope we can produce more players with the mindset of Paul O’Connell and BOD. O’Connell wouldn’t leave Munster for all the money in the world and BOD may have had his head turned but followed his heart.
Bod was making enough in sponsorship. Etc and knows he will make money after he retires. Very few are like him. The provinces could turn into training centres for players to go to France etc. But it’s not all bad. Now we have 4 quality out halves playing top level. If three irish teams get to the quarters there will be more irish players than any other nationality in the last 8. It has to be damaging to the French national side that their own players are being pushed aside. The tax refund for playing in Ireland is still a big incentive to play most of their careers in Ireland. and If o.brien and heaslip go to France it gives other guys chances which can’t be bad
The French have a truck load more money to offer now, then they had when BOD was in his prime, I think rather then poaching a lot of players, they’re going to cherry pick the best. I’d imagine Sean O’Brien is getting offers that are very hard to turn down.
If Welsh clubs join English premier, then rabo is no more, what may end up happening is an elite 8 team pro ail league with provinces competing in a restructured pan-euro competition. Top top irish players will probably be lost to English and French clubs but that’s happening already to a degree
If Welsh clubs join English premier, then rabo is no more, what may end up happening is an elite 8 team pro ail league with provinces competing in a restructured pan-euro competition. Top top irish players will probably be lost to English and French clubs but that’s happening already to a degree
Money or interest is simply not there for pro ail. The welsh regions will only join aviva as a last resort, should the French Union fail to agree to the six nations running HEC next season. The RFU & the FFR met on Monday to try & sort it out, no word on how it went yet.
The Italians are threatening to pull out of the rabo as well.
I just think contingencies have to be considered in case of rabo collapse, otherwise we lose all our contracted players; All the provincial players are contracted through ail clubs as it stands, some of the top centrally contracted players even play for them, e.g on come back trail from injury as Paul o’c did, a professional ail league would open up the game to a lot more pros, the likes of Peter stringer could finish his career at home for eg, create more jobs etc, admittedly not as highly paid as with say munster. The provinces could bring in the bigger money through a pan-euro competition then also. Clubs could flesh out some positions with developmental contracted players if required.. it’s definitely more likely than a B & I league. Rabo is in trouble.. It must be costing Italian clubs a fortune to travel here most weekends of the year. Welsh regions in trouble also. Their heads may def be turned by a lucrative offer from aviva
Heineken cup RIP