View: Three things learned in West Ham historic Europa League triumph
West Ham cruised past Sevilla last night (March 17) at the London Stadium to secure their spot in the Europa League quarter-final against Lyon.
Tomas Soucek opened the scoring for the Hammers with Andriy Yarmolenko coming on to seal victory in the second half of extra time.
All attention will now turn to Sunday’s (March 20) crunch match against bitter rivals Tottenham Hotspur but here are three things we learned from last night’s historic win.
Yarmolenko is a legend
First and foremost, Yarmolenko is a boss. The man deserves a statue outside the London Stadium for that goal alone; he really was in the right place at the right time and more importantly he didn’t fluff his lines.
The Ukrainian international has been through such a tough time recently, having to rescue his family whilst his home country finds itself under invasion from Russia.
The club have been excellent with him whilst he has been away on compassionate leave and giving him that freedom to clear his head has allowed him to come back and score two hugely important goals in the last couple of weeks.
London stadium atmosphere
Ever since West Ham moved into the London Stadium, they have faced so much scrutiny. The pitch being too far away from the fans to create a proper atmosphere has been the main criticism from rival fans and pundits alike but last night proved the haters wrong.
That was the best atmosphere at any Hammers game for so many years. The Sevilla fans did well at the Ramon Sanchez Pizjuan Stadium in the first leg, but the Irons blew them out of the water in east London, much like the players.
That kind of atmosphere will be needed in the next round against Lyon.
West ham can win the whole thing
What is standing in David Moyes’ way now? West Ham have just beaten the most successful team in Europa League history and one of – if not – this season’s favourites.
They eased through their group in top spot and haven’t looked out of their depth once throughout the whole tournament.
This season has seen so many upsets and boy would the Irons cause some upset if they won. Moyes should certainly target winning the competition because they can beat anyone on their day and this competition is definitely their best chance of achieving Champions League football.
In other West Ham news, View: Jarrod Bowen faces terrible luck with his England squad absence.
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