There have been two Premier London Derbies (PLDs) matches either side of the New Year. On Friday 30 December 2022 it was West Ham United (0) 0 v 2 (2) Brentford at The London Stadium. The damage was done in the first-half with goals by Ivan Toney from a rebound on 18 minutes, and Josh Dasilva on 43, assisted by Toney’s lofted pass. The Bees’ star striker was stretchered off with a knee injury late on. This 6th defeat in a row puts more pressure on Manager David Moyes, at a time when West Ham United announced the death of their Co-Chairman David Gold on 4 January 2023, a very sad loss to the Club and football.
That was the date of the first PLDs match of 2023 at Selhurst Park, where it was Crystal Palace (0) 0 v 4 (0) Tottenham Hotspur. After a first-half which The Eagles just about edged, Spurs cut loose with 2 goals from Harry Kane (48, 53), and 1 each from Matt Doherty (68) and at last Son Heung-min (72). For Harry Kane this was another record of 198 goals in his first 300 Premier League (PL) games, 297 for Spurs, beating Alan Shearer’s 196 by two. He, like Teddy Sheringham, has scored in his 100th, 200th and now 300th PL game!
All football records pall into insignificance against those of the greatest, Pele (Edson Arantes do Nascimento), who died on 29 December 2022 aged 82. He scored 1,283 goals in 1,363 first class matches; 643 in 656 for his Brazilian Club Santos; 77 in 92 for Brazil; and won three FIFA World Cups (1958, 1962 and 1970). For, and by his skill and class, was coined the term “The Beautiful Game”. Among many tributes those of other world-class players mean most. Ferenc Puskas is quoted as saying “The greatest player in history was Di Stefano. I refuse to classify Pele as a player. He was above that.” Puskas himself was no mean player. The story is that in his first season at Real Madrid, where Alfredo Di Stefano had been top scorer for several seasons, they had scored equal numbers of goals coming to the last match. Late on Puskas beat the defence and then passed the ball to Di Stefano to score into an empty net.
There are no PLDs PL matches this weekend, but West Ham United and Brentford face one another again in the FA Cup Third Round, this time at the Gtech Community Stadium.
Until next time, “Keep Safe”, and enjoy your football, Andrew at PLDs.