West Ham: Fabianski, Johnson, Zouma, Dawson, Cresswell, Soucek, Rice, Lanzini, Benrahma, Antonio, Fornals. Subs: Areola, Yarmolenko, Noble, Diop, Fredericks, Masuaku, Kral, Oko-Flex, Perkins.
Villa: Martinez, Cash, Chambers, Mings, Digne, Luiz, McGinn, Ramsey, Coutinho, Ings, Watkins. Subs: Olsen, Konsa, Sanson, Buendia, Traore, Young, Bailey, Chukwuemeka, Iroegbunam.
The fact that Jarrod Bowen has become an essential cog in David Moyes' West Ham machine is testimony as to the benefit of due diligence when it come to player acquisitions, then he first arrived from Hull Bowen was far from the finished article he is today.
Fans bemoaned how infrequently Moyes used his new signing and questioned why the club had signed him if the manager didn't want to play him. Bowen is now one of the first names on the manager's starting line up, so the policy of 'drip feeding' him into the team bit by bit worked eventually.
New signings, at least in West Ham parlance, Säid Benrahma AND Nikola Vlasic have both been undergoing the Moyes integration process with mixed results. Benrahma was flying at the beginning of the season but failed to track back enough defensively to keep his place, whereas Vlasic seems a player who tries hard but is completely devoid of 'good luck' at this moment in his career.
When Bowen was fit it masked the issues with Benrahma and Vlasic, unfortunately the paucity of Hammers squad means there is NOWHERE TO HIDE! Benny needs to grab his opportunity and remember that he DOES have Golden feet!- Ed
Football managers at an elite level get paid handsomely and therefore have to partake in their media duties whether they want to or not, so after seeing his team miss out on the opportunity to take advantage of playing an under strength Sevilla, it was understandable that he was 'curt' when asked about Jarrod Bowen's availability for the all important 2nd leg in London next week, instead of how the actual game went.
Losing 1-0 in Sevilla's back yard was NOT a bad result, however given the golden opportunities wasted by a continuously profligate front line, it was not a GOOD result. On another day Hammers could have scored a couple of goals early on, IF Bowen had been playing they might well have.
Thin squad skating on ice, Bowen has become such an important provider AND scorer that the team look 'lethargic' or lacking the final outlet without him, his runs behind opposition defenders are vital for Hammers counter attacking game, particularly since Michail Antonio has been switched to being an out and out winger again.
David Moyes' reply to will Bowen be available for next Thursday was "I have no idea" and with a smile he turned away. It is to be hoped that David Moyes DOES have an idea ahead of the game, hopefully he and Benrahma have buried the hatchet, because when the Algerian came on to replace Vlasic he was the mustard.
Plenty to ponder, could have been better, but could have been a lot worse! - Ed
Sevilla: Bono, Jesús Navas ©, Gudelj, Koundé, Acuña, Jordán, Rakitić, Óliver Torres, Corona, Ocampos, En-Nesyri Subs: Dmitrović (GK), Pastor (GK), Augustinsson, Munir, Rafa Mir, Martial, Luismi, Carmona, Juanlu, Iván Romero, Kike Salas
West Ham: Areola, Johnson, Dawson, Zouma, Cresswell, Rice ©, Souček, Lanzini, Fornals, Vlašić, Antonio Subs: Fabiański (GK), Randolph (GK), Fredericks, Diop, Alese, Masuaku, Král, Noble, Potts, Chesters, Benrahma, Perkins
We'll have the team sheets around 4pm UK time and will upload them as soon as they are available. Declan Rice WILL captain the team as he has made sufficient recovery from his mystery illness, unfortunately the game comes just a bit too soon for Jarrod Bowen.
David Moyes will have to decide who will fill the forward's berth, Nikola Vlasic and Säid Benrahma are his main choices and given Moyes' recent comments regarding Benrahma it looks as if the Croatian Vlasib will be in the starting line up. - LN
Naa Fu*k*m who cares been a long time coming with there dirty money....lets hope that house of cards falls.....
When we think of West Ham United, the first thing that comes to mind are the incredible players that played for them in the past, such as Moore, Bonds, Payet, Di Canio, and Booking. These are some of the players that have inspired various football players, and several industries across the globe, such as the casino industry.
In fact, the world is filled with new online football-themed casino slot games such as those that can be found at platincasino.co.uk/new-games because of such prominent players. The next thing we think about is the magnificent stadium, ‘The London Stadium’ and the incredible fans that come with it. Lastly, when thinking about the Hammers, we think of the club’s anthem – I’m Forever Blowing Bubbles. However, we often forget about the magnificent managers that came along the way. Therefore, in this article, we will look at some of West Ham United’s best managers of all time as a token of appreciation.
John Lyall
John Lyall is considered by many as the greatest manager in West Ham United's history. His tenure spanned 15 years between 1974 and 1989. Before his managing career, he was a West Ham United player, and after being forced to retire due to a knee injury, he took on the role of being an assistant coach under Ron Greenwood. During his coaching career he worked with the likes of talented players like Alan Devonshire & Trevor Booking. Lyall’s side is known for the brilliant football they used to play, and Lyall himself will always be known for his loyalty to the Hammers.
Ron Greenwood
Another legend that served 13 years as West Ham United’s manager. He led the club to the FA Cup title in 1964 for the first time in history, and in 1965 he won the European Cup Winners’ Cup. These were the Hammers’ first major trophies to ever be won by them. Lastly, after his spell at West Ham United, he went on to manage England from 1977 to 1982.
Harry Redknapp
After Billy Bonds departed the Hammers, Harry Redknapp took over to manage the team after 2 years of acting as his assistant manager. Redknapp's managing career for the Hammers lasted 7 years where he managed players like Rio Ferdinand, Joe Cole, and Michael Carrick. Besides the clubs’ own products, Redknapp was also well known to bring in foreign players from abroad. Notably, some were an enormous success especially if we mention the likes of Paolo Di Canio, and Slaven Bilic. During his time at the club, he guided the Hammers to finishing the Premier League in a record-high position of 5th place in the 1998/1999 season. Besides this he managed to bring several other spectacular results for the club. Therefore, he will always be fondly remembered as one of West Ham's most successful managers.
Alan Pardew
Pardew was appointed West Ham manager in 2003 and managed the team till 2006. In his 3 years, his records are impressive and even managed to reach the 9th place position in the 2005-2006 season. With 163 games managed to his name, he has a 41.10% winning rate. Therefore, for this reason, he must be one of the best West Ham Managers of all time.
Billy Bonds
227 games, 99 games won, 61 drew, and 67 lost, that’s Billy Bonds for you. Bond’s win percentage of 43.61%, surely is enough to put him on this list. Bonds was always a popular choice to be appointed manager for the Hammers in 1990, and even took the club to promotion in this first season of his. The career of Bonds as West Ham United’s manager is filled with more ups than downs, and one that was filled with hope.
Conclusion
In the end, whichever team you support, it is certain that West Ham has had their fair share of incredible managers over the years. The club has been both fortunate and unfortunate in this regard, with many great men managing the Hammers leaving as quickly as they arrived. Either way, they all contributed something to the club, whether through trophies, promotions, or special moments for the club.
With just 39 goals scored, Sevilla have only the seventh best goals scored in La Liga and have drawn six of their past 13 games as a result, but they are still sitting in 2nd spot behind Real Madrid and have a comfortable cushion ahead of their nearest rivals Barcelona.
Sevilla's manager Julen Lopetegui had this to say ahead ofm the game "I think we are now at the key moment of the season, we are now going to have two really hard games against West Ham, the past is not important, If you win today it is not about the past but more about your merits today. Of course, one of our dreams is the Europa League and now we face a very big opponent in West Ham, who are one of the form teams in the Premier League and our main focus is to beat them over two games. After that we will see what the next battle will be."
Speaking ahead of the tie, West Ham boss David Moyes said: “I feel it is where the players should be. The group we have are capable. There are times this season where it does not matter who we play, we will get a win, when we go out to play the likes of Chelsea, Liverpool and the Manchester I expect us to win, or at least give it a good go, I see this fixture as a great game for us."
Moyes continued with a degree of calm positivity to say “Sevilla have a really good history in the competition. It is two leg, we have this one and we are looking forward to the London Stadium next week. You want to play in Europe. It is the elite to challenge yourself against."
The city of Seville will also host this season’s Europa League final in May – with Sevilla’s Sanchez Pizjuan home stadium the venue.
How can West Ham expect to cope in tonight's game and does Sevilla's European pedigree give them the advantage were the questions many fans were asking as they travelled to see their team play in a 'proper' European Cup tie for the first time in over 40 years!
Unfortunately a bit of pre-meditated hooliganism perpetrated by Eintrecht Frankfurt Ultra fans who had seen their side triumph 2-1 earlier on Wednesday at Real Betis, who are managed by ex-Hammers manager Manuel Pellegrini and are city rivals of Sevilla, put paid to all of that.
Hoping to provoke a confrontation, Eintrecht Frankfurt Ultras had stayed on from their game and freshly fuelled up with cheap booze spent most of the day 'taunting' ANY group of West Ham fans about the amount of money Hammers had paid Eintrecht for Sebastien Haller.
After their efforts had failed and as the day wore on, 'Ze Germans' ever resourceful when it comes to matters of conflict, contrived to create a 'perfect storm' of an attack in the area most densely populated with Hammers fans centering on the Irish Pub and Bar, a well known drinking hole for visiting fans.
The media were briefed in advance according to friends of the site who live in Seville, one of them Pedron Himenez who lives right near the epicentre of events said" This was definitely a well thought and carefully planned 'assault', they even tried using spotters on scooters, but as the day wore on and the effects of all the alcohol took their toll they looked less and less likely to cause the amount of trouble they had initially planned and so it proved".
Apart from the obvious 'They were moronic right wing football hooligans enjoying a jolly in the South of Spain running riot fuelled up on cheap booze' tag, is there any other reason as to why they did what they did? UEFA and FIFA have been watching West Ham United closeley ever since the club were denied access to one away game following a bunch of idiots rushing a gate to get in.
The Eintrecht Ultra's clearly intended to gain an advantage for their team's progress by getting a potential competitor's fans banned from attending games, safe in the knowledge that their actions will receive absolutely NO sanction, because their club will publicly disown them, while privately still fund their Ultra's social club, which includes the facility to travel to away games cheaply and en masse!
You know that Franfurt will get away with it, and West Ham? we shall see. - Ed
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FA Cup
West Ham vs QPR
14:30
London Stadium
Sunday 11th January 2026
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