WHZ View: The last time West Ham hosted Leeds in the Premier League
West Ham will have to wait another six days to get back to winning ways when they host Leeds United on Monday evening.
The Hammers suffered their second league defeat of 2021 on Saturday, with Manchester City winning 2-1 in the clash at the Etihad Stadium.
We host Leeds next week having defeated them in the reverse fixture at Elland Road 2-1. Tomas Soucek and Angelo Ogbonna goals provided the perfect response to going 1-0 down, courtesy of an early Mateusz Klich penalty.
Monday will be the first time we play Leeds at home in the Premier League since November 2002. West Ham Zone have decided to look back at the classic clash.
West Ham United 3-4 Leeds United – November 10th 2002
The game was dubbed the ‘P45 derby’ as both managers Glenn Roeder and Terry Venables came into the match under huge pressure.
In front of 33,297 hostile fans at Upton Park, West Ham crumbled to a 4-3 home defeat despite a late fight-back. The match highlighted further the Hammers woeful defensive record with some high-profile errors.
The first coming early on. Nick Barmby put the visitors ahead after just 11 minutes. He scored with an excellent diving header, having been found by a neat Harry Kewell cross. The Australian had been found by a long punt from Paul Robinson in the Leeds goal, misjudged by defender Ian Pearce.
The Hammers hit back after an error from Leeds. Michael Carrick’s long-distance strike was fumbled by Robinson. Paolo Di Canio was there to tap in and draw the home side level after 21 minutes.
It was a short-lived revival, however. The Whites were back in front seven minutes later, thanks to that man Kewell again. The winger evaded Tomas Repka to head in an Ian Harte cross past David James.
Boos began to echo around Upton Park, which led to more downfall. After 41 minutes, Kewell struck again to give the visitors a three-goal lead. Repka was again exploited as Leeds’ man volleyed home his second.
The home fans voiced their displeasure as the players trotted off for half time. It didn’t get much better when play resumed, either. Christian Daily played a weak back-pass to James that was charged down by Mark Viduka. He won the ball from the Hammers keeper and tapped into an empty net.
West Ham struck back five minutes later. Leeds were beginning to look shaky at the back in the absence of England international’s Jonathan Woodgate and Danny Mills. It was Mills’ replacement, Gary Kelly, who fouled Di Canio in the box after 51 minutes. The Hammers talisman converted from the sport to make it 2-4.
Trevor Sinclair struck a third for West Ham after 74 minutes. The midfielder headed in a Sebastian Schemmel corner to make for a cagey last 15 minutes. Pearce had a chance to make amends for his earlier error but flashed a header wide of the Leeds goal in injury time.
Leeds held on to win in this top-flight classic. West Ham went on to be relegated to the old first division that season.
We’re feeling a bit more confident about this upcoming clash, though.
In other West Ham news, loanee Winston Reid is performing very well for Brentford in the Championship