West Ham United (1) 1 v 1 (0) Crystal Palace
13 Kudus, assist Coufal 53 Edouard
Yellows: Ward-Prowse, Coufal None Referee: Michael Oliver
Played Sunday 3 December 2023, at The London Stadium.
Teams led by the two oldest Premier League (PL) Managers, David Moyes (60) and Roy Hodgson (76), met in this Premier London Derbies (PLDs) match. All their wisdom could not turn this one into other than a dour 97 minutes. West Ham United should have made more of their 13th-minute goal through in form Mohammed Kudos but did not. Crystal Palace were without the injured, creative Eberechi Eze and their second-half equalizer came through a defensive error. Hammers’ defender Konstantinos Mavropanos, who conceded an own-goal away to Brentford in November, lost possession to let Odsonne Edouard in.
Tottenham Hotspur (1) 1 v 2 (0) West Ham United
11 Romero, corner Porro 52 Bowen
74 Ward-Prowse
Yellows: Romero, Porro Alvarez, Ward-Prowse, Emerson
Played Thursday 7 December 2023 at The Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. Ref: M Salisbury
In a game of two halves Tottenham Hotspur took an early lead for the 9th time only to lose the match for the 4th time. They did not capitalize on their 75% possession with inaccurate final passes. In the second half West Ham United changed gear and pressurized Spurs into costly defensive errors. First the ball came off both central defenders to the outstanding Jarrod Bowen who scored in his 7th consecutive PL away match. Then a poor back pass from Destiny Udogie let James Ward-Prowse in who had the composure to still score despite his first shot hitting the post. Where now for Spurs with only 1 point out of the last 15?
It will be three PLDs matches in a row for The Hammers when it is Fulham v West Ham United on Sunday 10 December, a fixture they won in 2018-19 and 2022-23 with a draw in 2020-21. Will their bubble continue to fill?
Until next time, “Keep Safe” and enjoy your football, Andrew at PLDs.