SM
Man City vs. Chelsea: 20 hrs 37 mins
Upcoming predictions and previews
WH
FA Cup | Fourth Round
Jan 25, 2020 at 3pm UK
 
WB

0-1

 
FT(HT: 0-1)

Slaven Bilic makes winning return to West Ham as West Brom progress

:Headline: Result: Slaven Bilic makes winning return to West Ham as West Brom progress: ID:387491: from db_amp
The match saw Baggies boss Slaven Bilic return to his former club.

Slaven Bilic dumped his former club out of the FA Cup as West Brom sank woeful West Ham 1-0 at the London Stadium.

Bilic, sacked by the Hammers in 2017, came back to haunt them, with his Championship pace-setters running out deserved winners thanks to Conor Townsend's early strike.

Gallingly for West Ham, this was pretty much their strongest available line-up while Bilic made eight changes to his, with the Croatian's priority lying with the promotion race.

Not only that, but Albion also played the final 18 minutes with 10 men after Semi Ajayi was sent off for a second booking.

Among those drafted in by Bilic were experienced campaigners Charlie Austin, Chris Brunt and Gareth Barry, an FA Cup winner nine years ago with Manchester City.

Barry and Brunt may have a combined age of 73 but they were more mobile than anyone in the West Ham's plodding midfield.

The rest of the Baggies side had pace, tempo, intensity and a clear game plan, all of which were lacking from the Premier League side.

Their goal arrived in the ninth minute after a carefree 40-yard run from Filip Krovinovic led to a mix-up between Issa Diop and Carlos Sanchez and saw the ball fall at the feet of Townsend.

West Brom boss Slaven Bilic enjoyed his return to the London Stadium (Bradley Collyer/PA)

The full-back still had plenty to do on the edge of the box, but he took a touch before pinging his shot across Darren Randolph into the far corner for his first Albion goal.

They should have had more during an embarrassingly one-sided first half, but Krovinovic glanced a header narrowly wide before Austin planted a free header the wrong side of the post.

Hammers boss David Moyes made a triple substitution at half-time, with the calamitous Sanchez making way for captain Mark Noble, while so bad was defender Fabian Balbuena that the injured Angelo Ogbonna went on in his place.

Michail Antonio was also summoned to add some zip to the attack, but when his first break up field fashioned a chance for Albian Ajeti, the Swiss striker's touch let him down.

Sebastien Haller, West Ham's £45million record signing who looks like he would rather be anywhere else right now, shanked his one attempt on goal off target while Manuel Lanzini fired wide and Pablo Zabaleta headed over.

Noble should have equalised in stoppage time but blazed over from 12 yards before burying his head in his hands.

A draw would have flattered the Hammers, though, and they ultimately bowed out with a whimper and were roundly booed off at full-time.

They now have only a relegation battle to look forward to, and if these two sides swap divisions in May, Bilic really will have had the last laugh.

amp_article__387491 : Database Data restored...  : 
last updated article - 2020-01-25 17:18:52:
html db last update - 2021-03-09 19:31:12 :

ex - 7200 : read : read cache amp html
Share this article now:
Recommended Next on SM
Premier League Table
TeamPWDLFAGDPTS
1Ipswich TownIpswich432611685533289
2Leicester CityLeicester422841079384188
3Leeds UnitedLeeds43269876344287
4Southampton42259884543084
5West Bromwich AlbionWest Brom4320121166422472
6Norwich CityNorwich432181476601671
7Hull City421811136254865
8Coventry CityCoventry4217121366521463
9Middlesbrough43189166156563
10Preston North EndPreston43189165660-463
11Cardiff CityCardiff43185204860-1259
12Bristol City431610175046458
13Sunderland43168195250256
14Swansea CitySwansea431411185362-953
15Watford431216155958152
16Millwall431311194255-1350
17Blackburn RoversBlackburn431310205771-1449
18Plymouth ArgylePlymouth431212195866-848
19Queens Park RangersQPR431211204057-1747
20Stoke CityStoke431211204160-1947
21Birmingham CityBirmingham43129224864-1645
22Huddersfield TownHuddersfield43917174770-2344
23Sheffield WednesdaySheff Weds43128233667-3144
RRotherham UnitedRotherham43411283285-5323
Scroll for more - Tap for full version


Sports Mole provides in-depth previews and predictions for every match from the biggest leagues and competitions in world football.
AL
Sign up for our FREE daily preview newsletter direct to your inbox!

Loading ...

Failed to load data.



. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .