West Ham United - Season Overview 2020-2021
★ = Dublin Hammers Meeting (Shown Live on television).
✈ = Dublin Hammers Trip.
LP = League Position.
COVID-19 still has a grip on the world and restrictions were in place for most of the season. Football was played behind closed doors except for 3 fixtures. The season began later than usual to give the players some kind of break due to last season finishing late July 2020 due to the suspension of all games during the first lock-down. All games were shown live on TV Which led to staggered KO times and games played almost every day of the week!
PRE-SEASON NEWS 2020
Start of the season delayed until mid September due to the COVID 19 pandemic.
No fans allowed into stadiums until further notice.
The summer transfer window will now end on October 5th 2020.
GSB announce the club is skint and we need to sell to buy.
Grady Diangana returns from West Bromich Albion after a successful season long loan.
Swiss striker Albian Ajeti joins Celtic for an undisclosed fee.
Striker Jordan Hugill ends loan spell at QPR to join newly relegated Norwich City for 2.5 million.
Calamitous keeper Roberto ends his spell at West Ham (thankfully) as he moves to Real Valladolid.
GSB state that the aim for this season is to stay up, with minimal investment.
PRE-SEASON FRIENDLIES 2020
AUGUST 2020
25th Wycombe Wanderers (a) 5-1. Bowen x2, Masuaku, Lanzini, OG.
25th Ipswich Town (a) 4-1. Haller x3, Soucek.
29th Brentford (h) 2-1. Yarmolenko, Soucek.
Promising youngster Grady Diangana is sold to West Bromich Albion for 20 million.
SEPTEMBER 2020
05th Bournemouth (h). The Betway Cup. 3-5. Bowen x2, Anderson.
PREMIER LEAGUE/FA CUP/CARABAO CUP 2020-2021
SEPTEMBER 2020
12th Newcastle Utd (h). 0-2.
Every other team in the league has strengthened, we start the season with the same line-up we finished last season with. Lack lustre display.
15th Charlton Ath (h). Carabao Cup 2nd. Rd. 3-0. Haller x2, Anderson.
10 changes from Newcastle match. Haller, Lanzini, Anderson all start. Harrison Ashby, the Scotland U19 international makes debut late in 2nd half.
19th Arsenal (a). 1-2. Antonio.
Huge improvement in the performance from the Newcastle game, unlucky not to come away with a draw, game was in the balance until Arsenal scored the winner in the 85th minute. Disappointing, but much much better.
22nd Hull City (h). Carabao Cup 3rd. Rd. 5-1. Haller x2, Snodgrass, Yarmolenko x2 (1x pen).
David Moyes, Issa Diop and Josh Cullen test positive for COVID-19 and have to leave London Stadium before kick-off. Youngster Ashby starts in his second first team appearance, Alese and Longelo make first team debuts.
27th Wolverhampton Wanderers (h). 4-0. Bowen x2, OG, Haller.
Antonio and Bowen are outstanding as a great all round team performance sees us pick up our first points of the season.
30th Everton (a). Carabao Cup 4th. Rd. 1-4. Snodgrass.
'The reserves' as Sullivan called them in his recent radio interview, bring us back down to earth with a bump against a strong Everton line-up. With the game in the balance at 1-1, no subs were made to try and win the game. Noble and Snodgrass (both 33) overrun in the last 20 minutes and as for Anderson... truely woeful. Moyes still 'working from home'.
OCTOBER 2020
West Ham sign Czech Republic international right-back Vladimír Coufal for £5 million from Slavia Prague.
04th Leicester City (a). 3-0. Antonio, Fornals, Bowen. LP:8th.
The 'first team' serve up another great all-round performance in the league. 3 cracking goals, while Coufal is impressive on his debut. We are starting to look like a real team with everyone working hard and the change in formation seems to suit everyone. The front three of Fornals, Antonio and Bowen (F.A.B!) were lethal today and Ogbonna at the back, outstanding. Long may it continue!
Josh Cullen moves to RSC Anderlecht for £800,000.
Jack Wilshere leaves West Ham after mutual termination of the midfielder’s contract.
Striker Xande Silva joins Greek team Aris Thessaloniki FC on a season long loan.
Out of form Felipe Anderson joins FC Porto on a season long loan.
Defender Craig Dawson joins on a season long loan from Watford.
Algerian winger Said Benrahma joins on loan from Brentford.
18th Tottenham (a). 3-3. Balbuena, OG, Lanzini. LP: 9th.
Three nil down after 15 minutes in a horror show start. We come back to score three in the last ten minutes, Lanzini scoring a peach of a goal to level it in injury time... scenes!
24th Manchester City (h). 1-1. Antonio.
Antonio scores with wonderful overhead kick as we go in at half time 1-0 up. Hang on in the second after they equalise, another good team performance. Antonio goes off in 2nd half with hamstring injury?
31st Liverpool (a). 1-2. Fornals.
No Antonio up front, Haller steps in. One nil up before Salah's pathetic flop in the penalty area gets them back into the game. Concede the winner late on, but another good performance!
NOVEMBER 2020
07th Fulham (h). 1-0. Soucek. LP:11th.
Soucek winner in injury time, assist from Benrahma, only to conceed a penalty with seconds to go. Fanianski catches the ball after a failed 'panenka' attempt from Fulhams' Lookman.
22nd Sheffield Utd (a). 1-0. Haller. LP:8th.
A gritty perfromance and another 3 points after Haller scores with a second half thunderbolt! Declan Rice puts in a commanding display.
30th Aston Villa (h). 2-1. Ogbonna, Bowen. LP:5th!
Antonio returns, but isn't fit and is replaced by Haller at half time. Goals very early in each half see us up to 5th in the table, but in truth, apart from scoring twice, we were poor throughout, they missed a penalty and had a goal ruled out by VAR. A master class in simulation from Grealish and the Villa players. Ref poor and lost control. Will need to improve for Saturday!
DECEMBER 2020
05th Manchester Utd (h). 1-3. Soucek. LP:7th.
Failure to finish one of the multiple chances we created in a one sided first half cost us dearly. 3 pieces of individual skill from the mancs in the second half and 3 goals. VAR failed to spot the ball going off the pitch seconds before they score their first. VAR = win some, lose some! Antonio out... again.
2,000 fans return to the London Stadium.
11th Leeds Utd (a). 2-1. Soucek, Ogbonna. LP:5th.
Benrahma makes first start. Concede penalty witihn minutes, Faba saves, but is adjudged to be off his line, they score from the second attempt! After that we limited them to few chances. Both our goals came from set pieces, but like last week we missed too many good chances. Great team performance!
16th Crystal Palace (h). 1-1. Haller.
Tough game, with the draw a fair result. We were second best for large parts of the first half, better second. Haller scores the equaliser with a spectacular overhead kick! Beneteke sent off but couldn't capitalise as they defended resolutely.
London goes back into lock down, no fans at the London Stadium!
21st Chelsea (a). 0-3. LP:10th.
Decent team performance, dominated for large parts of the game after conceding early, but without any real cutting edge. They scored two late goals. Noble started his first game this season.
West Ham announce Denmark U21 international defender Frederik Alves has joined the club.
27th Brighton Hove Albion (h). 2-2. Johnson, Soucek.
Poor team selection from Moyes leaves 90% of our creativity on the bench, thus we make struggling Brighton look like Barcelona! Lucky to only be a goal behind at the break. Yarmo and Lanzini come on for a better second half showing. Ben Johnson scores his first premier league goal!
29th Southampton (a). 0-0. LP:10th.
Solid away performance, after a dodgy start we grew into the game. Southampton keeper makes great save from Benrahma late on to ensure the draw. Craig Dawson makes a solid debut, Antonio returns as a second half sub.
JANUARY 2021
01st Everton (a). 1-0. Soucek.
Fabianski injured in the warm-up, Randolf comes in. A great team showing with many ourstanding performers. Ogbonna MOM. Soucek scored winner in the last minutes in a tight game, but a well earned win and a great start to the new year!
*Transfer window opens:
West Ham's club record signing Sebastien Haller has joined Ajax for around 22.5m.
Robert Snodgrass leaves to join Big Sam at West Bromich Albion.
11th Stockport County (a). FA Cup 3rd Round. 1-0. Dawson.
A strong line-up battled a resolute Stockport in the pouring rain on a muddy waterlogged pitch. Craig Dawson scores his first goal for the club late on to win it!
16th Burnley (h). 1-0. Antonio. LP:9th.
Moyes declare us as "The new West Ham" as we gave as good as we got in a tough game with no quarter given by either side. Usually Burnley bully us easily, but not today. Early goal gives us a 3rd win in a row, but we should have scored more, Ogbonna unlucky with a header against the bar.
19th West Bromich Albion (h). 2-1. Antonio, Bowen. LP:7th.
A strong attacking line-up huffs and puffs but score late in the first half. WBA reply right after half-time. Fornals and Yarmo come on and within minutes Antonio puts us 2-1 up. As in the previous match, we then sit back and invite pressure, which makes for a nervous last 10 minutes.
23rd Doncaster Rovers (h). FA Cup 4th Round. 4-0. Fornals, Yarmolenko, OG, Afolayan.
7 changes from the West Brom game, but an excellent, proffessional performance from all concerned. Fornals scored after 90 seconds and the he result never looked in doubt after that. Oladapo Afolayan scores on his debut.
26th Crystal Palace (a). 3-2. Soucek x2, Dawson. LP:4th!
Zaha scores on 3 minutes, Soucek responds after 9, and from then on we proceed to carve them open at will. Soucek puts us 2-1 up, Antonio hits the post twice, he's thwarted again in the second half when the Palace keeper makes a great point blank save. Dawson makes it 3-1 from a corner. Palace score late in injury time. Fantastic from everyone tonight and up to the heady heights of 4th in the table!
West Ham United confirm Saïd Benrahma has completed his permanent transfer to the Club.
Jessie Lingard joins on a loan from Manchester Utd until the end of the season.
31st Liverpool (h). 1-3. Dawson. LP:5th.
A reality check as Liverpool give us a passing and finishing masterclass, Salah's second was a stunning goal. Poor all round from the Hammers today. Dawson scores late consolation from a corner. Shrugs shoulders and moves on.
Transfer deadline day ends with 3 loans, Winston Reid to Brentford, Oladapo Afolayan to Bolton and Aji Alese to Cambridge Utd.
FEBRUARY 2021
03rd Aston Villa (a). 3-1. Soucek, Lingard x2.
A great debut from Jesse Lingard sees him score 2, as we bounce back from the Liverpool defeat with a cracking all round team performance.
06th Fulham (a). 0-0. LP:6th.
Disappointing performance after the Villa game, second best for most of it, but relegation fighting Fulham missed a host of chances. Fortunate to get the draw. Biggest talking point was the injury time sending off of Soucek by a combination of VAR and ref Mike Dean. Not even a foul, poor, poor decision. We will be appealing the red card.
9th Manchester Utd (a). FA Cup 5th Rd. 0-1.AET.
Awful, scrappy game. First half is best forgotten, we were much better second, defended well throughout, but lacked any real quality when openings did come our way. Conceded in extra time. Ogbonna off injured and Ryan Fredericks becomes the first ever concussion substitution after Diop has to come off after a collision of heads with Martial. Disappointing night and out of the cup!
Antonio suffering from 'fatigue' and didn't travel to Manchester, our failure to sign a striker after selling Haller has come back to haunt us with no recognised striker at the club.
Ogbonna out for a month at least, while Yarmolenko is out for the rest of the season!
15th Sheffield Utd (h). 3-0. Rice(p), Diop, Fredericks. LP:5th.
Bowen starts up front and Lingard gets the MOM, Rice scores our first penaly of the season and Fabinaski makes a couple of outstanding saves in a solid home win as we bounce back from the FA Cup exit disappointment.
21st Tottenham (h). 2-1. LP:4th. Antonio, Lingard.
Early goals in each half, the second, a cracker from Lingard see West Ham go into the champions league places! After the second went in, on came Bale and Ali, they grabbed a goal back and to be fair it was 'backs to the wall' stuff as they launched wave after wave of attacks. But with everyone 'giving their all' we held firm until the final whistle and the piss taking on social media began!
27th Manchester City (a). 1-2. Antonio.
A brilliant effort from the whole team wasn't quite enough to match a City side who have won 20 in a row! We gave them a game and could have equalized late into the second half when Diops header went inches wide. A huge step up on our recent outings against City. Take the positives and move on!
MARCH 2021
08th Leeds Utd (h). 2-0. Lingard, Dawson. LP:5th.
A must win game if we are to keep pushing for a European place. A slow start saw Leeds score twice, but both were ruled out and that was the wake up call. Our goals came from a penalty, Lingard converting the rebound after the keeper saved, then Dawson heading in from a corner. We also hit the woodwork twice! Backs to the wall in the second half, but Leeds missed chance after chance. 3pts in the bag.
Agreement has been reached with Eintracht Frankfurt to defer a €26 million balance remaining on the transfer fee for Sebastian Haller until September 2022. Haller was sold to Ajax in January.
Mark Noble announces a contract extention to end of the 2021-2022 season when he will retire.
Goalkeeper Lucas Fabianski also extends contract for a further year to 2022.
14th Manchester Utd (a). 0-1.
The Liverpool game all over again! Set up to defend, gave them way too much respect, with other results going our way over the weekend we had the chance to have a real go, we didn't and even scored their goal for them! Dawson heading in from a corner. Better in the second half when Benrahma and Lanzini came on, Fabianski made 2 world class saves to keep the score respectable, but overall really disappointing!
21st Arsenal (h). 3-3. Lingard, Bowen, Soucek. LP:5th.
Three nil up after half an hour as we blew a lack-lusture Arsenal away, the pick of the goals from Lingard. Then Arsenal woke up and we were on the back foot for the rest of the game. They got one back before HT, Dawson scored his second OG in 2 games, and with 5 minutes to go they equalised! In a rare 2nd half break away, Antonio hit the post when the score was 3-2, and Rice ran the length of the pitch before Leno saved his shot.
APRIL 2021
Declan Rice ruled out for 4 to 6 weeks after being injured while playing for England.
05th Wolverhampton Wanderers (a). 3-2. Lingard, Fornals, Bowen. LP:4th.
Another 3 goals, all of them absolute corkers, as we again move into an early 3-0 lead. Wolves pull one back before half-time and the ghosts of the Arsenal game come flooding back. Backs to the wall in the second half as we hold on. Antonio goes off mid way through the first half after causing havoc.
Antonio ruled out for 4 to 6 weeks with hamstring injury.
11th Leicester City (h). 3-2. Lingard x2, Bowen. LP:4th.
Third week in a row we go 3 nil up, only to be left hanging on in the final minutes! The pressure was on for us to win as other teams had gone above us in the race for a european place, but win we did... just! With no Antonio, Ogbonna or Rice, Bowen played up front and Noble next to Soucek (notching up his 400th game for the Hammers). Cresswell and Noble both leave the pitch with injuries in the second half.
Cresswell is ruled out for 3 to 4 weeks with hamstring injury.
17th Newcastle Utd (a). 2-3. Diop, Lingard (p).
A chance to go 3rd disappeared rapidly with an awful first half performance. Dawson sent off, a Diop own goal, unable to string two passes together! Second half was alot better, Diop pulled one back with a header, then Lingard equalised from a penalty. Seconds later Johnson was clearing off our goaline line, minutes later Newcastle scored the winner. Disappointing.
24th Chelsea (h). 0-1. LP:5th.
The injuries to key players is finally telling as we compete against a strong Chelsea side but lack any real quality in the final third. Chelsea targeted Lingard taking 2 yellow cards for 'tactical fouls' as he threatened to break free. Stop Lingard and you stop West ham at present. Balbuena sent off after yet another farcical VAR/Ref decision, see Soucek and Fulham away. We drop to 5th and a 3 point gap appears between us and Chelsea in 4th place.
Balbuena red card over turned... that makes 5 out of our last 8 red cards have been over turned!
Noble out injured.
MAY 2021
03rd Burnley (a). 2-1. Antonio x2.
Antonio and Cresswell are back in a very attacking line up. We conceded a penalty early, but that seemed to give us the shock we needed. 10 minutes later we had equalised and then taken the lead playing some cracking football, Antonio with both goals. We should have scored at least 3 more as we carved Burnley open. As usual endured a couple of dodgy moments, Dawson clearing off the line, but a well deserved and much needed win! LP:5th.
09th Everton (h). 0-1.
A hard fought game between two well matched teams with few chances created. Everton scored early and from then on we huffed and puffed but couldn't break them down. Coucek hit the post and Benhrama headed wide for our only 2 chances, Cresswell and Lanzini going off injured didn't help our cause. Disappointing. We lose 3 out of the last 4, yet still cling on to 5th place.
15th Brighton Hove Albion (a). 1-1. Benrahma. LP:7th.
Rice returns to a strong team line-up, who serve up another a lack-lustre performance with players making poor attacking choices. Opposition teams seem to have sussed us out with Brighton following in the same footsteps as Chelsea, Newcastle and Everton in systematically fouling Lingard when he threatened to break loose! Welbeck scores late in the game, then we equalise with minutes to go, an absolute peach of a goal from Benrahma, his first for the club. We are dropping down the table fast and the dream of european football is fading.
Other results go our way, so we need one win from the last two to ensure european football next season.
19th West Bromich Albion (a). 3-1. Soucek, Ogbonna, Antonio. LP:6th.
Fabianski injured in the warm up (again!), Randolph steps in. Rice misses a penalty after Antonio is brought down in the 2nd minute. West Brom take the lead shortly after as Soucek scores an OG, but we dig in and late into first half injury time, Soucek equalises after good work from Benrahma. We grew stonger as the 2nd half went on, coming close a couple of times. A Cresswell free-kick hits the post, but we take the lead late with Ogbonna scoring from a corner. In the closing minutes Antonio gets the third after a breakaway.
We go into the last home game knowing a point will guarantee european football next season!
20,000 Fans allowed back into the London Stadium for the last game!
23rd Southampton (h). 3-0. Fornals x2, Rice. LP:6th.
After a nervy half hour when Southampton should have scored twice the game turned with 2 goals from Fornals in 5 minutes, from then on it was plain sailing. Rice made it 3-0 in the closing minutes.
A cracking season and we qualify for the Europa Leagure group stages... no qualification in July! Who would have thought it after that first awful showing against Newcastle on the first day of the season!
WEST HAM GOALSCORERS - 2020-2021
| Name | PL | CC | FA | TL |
| Oladapo Afolayan | - | - | 1 | 1 |
| Felipe Anderson | - | 1 | - | 1 |
| Michail Antonio | 10 | - | - | 10 |
| Said Benrahma | 1 | - | - | 1 |
| Fabian Balbuena | 1 | - | - | 1 |
| Jerrod Bowen | 8 | - | - | 8 |
| Craig Dawson | 3 | - | 1 | 4 |
| Issa Diop | 2 | - | - | 2 |
| Pablo Fornals | 5 | - | 1 | 6 |
| Ryan Fredericks | 1 | - | - | 1 |
| Sebastian Haller (*Ajax) | 3 | 4 | - | 7 |
| Ben Johnson | 1 | - | - | 1 |
| Manuel Lanzini | 1 | - | - | 1 |
| Jesse Lingard | 9 | - | - | 9 |
| Angelo Ogbonna | 3 | - | - | 3 |
| Declan Rice | 2 | - | - | 2 |
| Tomas Soucek | 10 | - | - | 10 |
| Robert Snodgrass (*WBA) | - | 2 | - | 2 |
| Andriy Yarmolenko | - | 2 | 1 | 3 |
| Own Goals | 2 | - | 1 | 3 |
| Totals | 62 | 9 | 5 | 76 |