West Ham produced knowledgeable efficiency to safe high spot in Group A and a spot within the Europa League final 16 with a 2-0 win over a below-par Freiburg on Thursday evening.
The Hammers took the lead when Mohammed Kudus made a intelligent run and lashed in his seventh objective of the season, with the good Edson Alvarez’s first for the membership doubling the lead simply earlier than the break.
Freiburg – who had gained their final three video games, with out conceding, in all competitions – discovered themselves in positions of promise on a number of events, however did little to check Lukasz Fabianski, who as soon as once more deputised in objective for Alphonse Areola.
In consequence, whereas the Hammers advance straight to the final 16, which takes place in March, the Bundesliga aspect will face a knockout spherical play-off in February to aim to earn their spot within the subsequent spherical of the competitors.
How West Ham strolled to high spot
As a lot as West Ham knew what they needed to do to complete high of their group, offering an ample response to Sunday’s thumping 5-0 defeat away at Fulham was little question excessive on the precedence checklist for David Moyes and his gamers.
It didn’t take lengthy for them to get into their stride. First, Kudus skipped away from his man and squared for Lucas Paqueta to rattle a shot off the crossbar, earlier than the Ghana worldwide made a intelligent run to beat the offside lure, latch onto Alvarez’s ball excessive and fireplace throughout Noah Atubolu, into the again of the online.
Jarrod Bowen then had the ball within the web after a carbon copy of the opener, solely to be dominated offside within the build-up, but it surely was 2-0 when Alvarez acquired the ball from Paqueta, escaped his marker, collected the return go from Bowen and fired dwelling a dangerous second simply earlier than the break.
Early within the second half, Kudus got here near a second, when he fired inches previous the publish after being launched by Bowen, however as the sport progressed, it turned clearer missed possibilities wouldn’t be punished.
Freiburg had created 0.09 xG by the break, 0.14 by the hour mark and set-piece routines weren’t coming to fruition for them, both. Moyes may even afford to withdraw Bowen and Paqueta with nearly 20 minutes remaining.
In equity, the German aspect did handle to check Fabianski in the direction of the top. Ritsu Doan’s low effort was stored out by a well-timed dive to the appropriate, earlier than Merlin Rohl’s shot with 5 minutes to play was held, too. However it was too little, too late.
Moyes ‘thrilled’ with win | ‘Not enjoying in EL once more till March is huge’
West Ham supervisor David Moyes:
“I’m thrilled. I thought we played well for long periods, went a couple of goals up and then missed a couple of really good chances, which could have maybe wrapped it up a bit sooner that just kept us hanging on a little bit. We just didn’t want to drop off it. I knew the game would change, they would come into it a bit more and we were trying to see it out more than anything in the second half. We did a really good job.
“It was much more prefer it, definitely in Europe. We have completed very nicely in Europe over the past three years and this was a great win in opposition to a great German aspect; it is by no means straightforward to beat German groups. I believed we even performed higher tonight than we did in Freiburg – and I believed we did a great job in Freiburg as nicely.
“We lost to Olympiakos, but it’s the only loss we’ve had in 19 or 20 games now. It’s a great record for us because we’re not a well-known European club at the moment. It’s been great for us. Overall, I think we deserved it and, thankfully, we’re at the top.
“Let me let you know, it’s actually huge [not to have to play in Europe until March] due to the quantity of video games everyone has bought within the schedule. We’re all going right into a busy interval, which we all know – our tradition means we play a whole lot of video games round Christmas.”
Hammers’ European dream shows no signs of dying – Opta facts
- West Ham have qualified as group winners in each of their last three seasons in European competition, winning 15 of their 18 matches (D1 L2), indeed only FC Bayern München (17) have won more group stage games in Europe in that time.
- West Ham United have won 10 consecutive home games in all European competition (inc. qualifiers), becoming just the fifth English team to register 10 home wins in a row, along with Arsenal (1971), Man City (2021 and 2023), Man Utd (1968 and 2008) and Tottenham (1971, 1974 and 2022).
- Having also won 2-1 in Freiburg on MD2 of the 2023-24 UEFA Europa League, West Ham United have defeated a German side twice in the same European season for the first time ever.
- West Ham’s Edson Álvarez scored his first goal for the club (19th appearance), while in also assisting Mohammed Kudus for the opener, he became the first player to both score and assist in a single UEFA Europa League game for the Hammers.
What’s next?
West Ham flip their consideration again to the Premier League as they play Wolves at dwelling on Tremendous Sunday, reside on Sky Sports activities with kick-off at 2pm.
Freiburg tackle FC Koln within the Bundesliga on Sunday, with kick-off at 2.30pm.