It was a well-earned victory for the Hammers on Sunday afternoon at the London Olympic Stadium over Aston Villa.
Injuries forced Michail Antonio and Aaron Cresswell to leave the game early in the second half, therefore the victory was bittersweet.
A few minutes into the second half, Andriy Yarmolenko came on as a substitution for the former, who had a long history of hamstring difficulties, after he collapsed to the ground clutching his thigh.
After the game, David Moyes refused to clarify whether West Ham’s sole recognized first-team striker, would be fit for this week’s games against Seville and Tottenham.
“I don’t really know yet,” replied Moyes when asked how Antonio and team mate Cresswell were. “But even if I did, I wouldn’t tell you because I am not going to let Sevilla know whether they’re going to be fit or not.
“It would be unfair to say that [we were relying on Andriy Yarmolenko to be available for Thursday night’s Europa League second leg] as that would suggest Mich is not going to be fit. At the moment I do not really know – and that is the true answer.”
Said Benrahma is a player who manager David Moyes will almost surely have to rely on for both games, given Nikola Vlasic is out with an injury and Jarrod Bowen is also likely to miss out.
Containing one of Villa’s recent acquisitions was essential to the win for the hosts, according to manager David Moyes, who was pleased with his side’s ability to manage him.
“[Philippe] Coutinho is a top player and has shown that in the last month or so for Villa,” he said. Villa came into this in great form; their front three have looked really good so it was a tough game for us. We knew they were coming with their tails up.
“There was a period in the first half when we played well without getting much from it. In the second half I felt that Villa had got better and we had dropped. Our injuries made me think the midweek stuff was seeping into us.
“But in the end we rallied and got a couple of goals which we have not done so often recently. I thought we looked comfortable at 2-0 with ten minutes to go, but we made it a bit nervy in the end.”
