West Ham United has a rollercoaster of footballing history, with many highs and lows. Throughout the club’s existence, there has also been an incredible range of unexpected wins. These were games that we either shouldn’t have won due to facing vastly superior opponents, or victories that great that they simply defied the odds. In the following article, we look at five of our best unexpected wins in recent club history.
Let’s hope that we continue to get some more unexpected wins during this Premier League season – we certainly need them! Unexpected wins make for amazing bets at sportsbooks too – aside from helping us stave off relegation, you can also enjoy better odds and payouts! If sports betting is your thing, you can gamble on a range of leagues and competitions apart from football, including NBA and NCAAB March Madness picks .
1. West Ham 1-0 Arsenal – 1980 FA Cup Final
West Ham have won three FA Cups to date – the best of these has to be the 1980 final against Arsenal. West Ham were just a lowly League 2 squad and were never expected to even reach the finals. In contrast, Arsenal were a great League 1 team and most people expected them to win. That was not the case! Trevor Brooking scored the winning goal after just 13 minutes and West Ham defended excellently for the rest of the game.
2. West Ham 2-0 Sevilla – UEFA Europa League Round 16
West Ham hasn’t enjoyed much European success. Therefore, the 2-1 triumph over Sevilla in the UEFA Europa League was unexpected. This was all the more unexpected, as the first leg at Sevilla saw the Spanish La Liga team triumph 1-0.
Hopes were low but attendance was high and the Hammers stadium had a record turnout to see the lads try for European glory. Indeed, that’s what happened. Tomas Souček and Andriy Yarmolenko both scored to put West Ham through to the UEFA Europa League quarter finals. They won the match 2-1 on aggregate and it was a fantastic performance from the entire squad. It’s matches like this that make shareholders like David Sullivan continue their support for the club.
3. West Ham 1-0 Man U – 2007-08 EPL season
The 2007-08 Premier League season could have been incredibly dark for West Ham had it not been for Carlos Tevez. We teetered on the very edge of relegation and needed a draw or better from the last game of the season to stay up. The opponents, unfortunately, were already crowned champions Manchester United. They had been amazing all season and everyone expected them to continue that form. But that was not to be! Tevez scored just before the half-time whistle and the game remained 1-0 until full time. The likes of Ronaldo and Giggs couldn’t break the Hammers’ defences and this unexpected win kept our Premier League hopes for another season.
4. West Ham 3-2 Man U – 2016-17 EPL season
The Boleyn Ground was the home of the Hammers for over a century and it was a both a sad memory and a triumphant one when West Ham unexpectedly beat Man U 3-2 in the last ever match to be played there. It was the 2016-17 season and West Ham were not expected to beat the Red Devils. Indeed, things were not looking great as Manchester quickly took a 2-1 lead. However, Antonio equalized and Reid scored a close-up header to clinch the win. It was the perfect send off for The Boleyn and we would not have wanted the club’s history to end here any differently.
5. West Ham 8-0 Macclesfield Town – League Cup third round
Did you know that West Ham has actually scored eight or more goals seven times since 1919? This is pretty amazing and one of our largest ever wins was against Macclesfield Town in the English League Cup third round. We get that the outcome of this match wasn’t unexpected – the Hammers were the favourites to win.
However, it was the scoreline that was unexpected! Fans were treated to an incredible show of goalscoring prowess as the Hammers thumped poor Macclesfield 8-0. What made it even more special was that the score was only 3-0 at half-time! West Ham went on to blast another five goals past the Macclesfield keeper to finish one of our greatest League Cup showcases ever.
For me, the FA Cup victory in 1980 stands as THE best unexpected win – you couldn’t have imagined it! But all of these matches were amazing in their own right for different reasons. Which one is your favourite? Or do you have any unexpected wins that we have missed? Let us know and share your thoughts below.- USA H
