Moyes goes full throttle... but Hammers' goal issues persist

THE ROGUE whistler in the London Stadium crowd who briefly fooled West Ham and Aston Villa’s players into thinking full-time had come prematurely might have been more welcome had he been blowing time early on the Hammers’ Premier League campaign.

- Malik Ouzia

West Ham 1 Benrahma 26 (pen)

Aston Villa 1 Watkins 17

The domestic season has been a grind for David Moyes’s side virtually from the outset, and with the Hammers this morning outside the relegation zone only on goal difference after yesterday’s 1-1 draw, most, you sense, would shake hands now on slender survival.

In another world, this match might have marked a moment of peak excitement, the first time all season that Moyes has been able to name all eight of his summer signings in the same match-day squad. Instead, that novelty — and the fact that it has taken until March to occur — served only to highlight the extent to which last summer’s spree has failed to produce a coherent, cohesive team.