Football Sport
the times | Saturday July 18 2020 2GS 7
José Mourinho
has told his
Tottenham Hotspur
players that victory in
the final two games of
the season can be the
launchpad to Europa
League success next
season (Ian Winrow
writes).
Wins against
Leicester City
tomorrow and Crystal
Palace next Sunday willsecure a place in
Europe’s second
competition and the
manager believes the
prospect should
provide strong
motivation.
“It was almost
impossible to do it from
months ago. But I don’t
want the players to be
affected by this
disappointment [of not
playing in the
Champions League].
This is a way to
motivate the troops,”
Mourinho said. “I have
lots of respect for the
competition.”Mourinho’s
Europa place
motivation
manager made it clear
that the Denmark
midfielder, who wants
to move on but has a
year left on his
contract, would not be
sold on the cheap.
Southampton value the
former Bayern Munich
man at about
£25 million.
“We’d like him to
stay as long as he has a
contract,” Hasenhüttl
said. “If somebody else
wants him they must
make a good offer. We
have to find a win-win
situation so everybody
is happy.”Ralph Hasenhüttl
says that
Southampton will only
sell Pierre-Emile
Hojbjerg to a club that
“really shows they
want him” (Jon West
writes).
Everton have made
an £18 million offer for
the 24-year-old, and
Tottenham Hotspur
are interested too, but
the SouthamptonNanny goats (quotes) from the managers
THE NANNIES
“Everything should go back to normal.
The subs, the water breaks, these
things. As a result of the pandemic, for
three months, it made sense. But for
the future, I don’t see why.”
WOLVES MANAGER NUNO ESPÍRITO SANTOWSouthampton
need ‘win-win’
Hojbjerg offer
Brendan Rodgers
has admitted he
is not sure if Ben
Chilwell has played
his last game for
Leicester City but
says that there is
no intention to
sell him (Tim
Nash writes).
The
England
left back
will miss the lasttwo games with a foot
injury.
The 23-year-old,
below, who is one short
of 100 league
appearances for
Leicester, has been
linked with a
£45 million move to
Chelsea and
Manchester
United. Asked if
Chilwell had
played his
last match
for the
club, Rodgers,
the Leicester
manager, said:
“I’m not sure.”Rodgers: No
need for us to
sell Chilwell
“West Ham United
Antonio 6, Soucek 10, Rice 36 3
Watford
Alyson Rudd
Deeney 49 1
WEST HAM UNITED
(4-2-3-1): L Fabianski 6 — B Johnson 6, I Diop 6,
A Ogbonna 7, A Cresswell 6 — T Soucek 7, D Rice
8 — J Bowen 7 (A Yarmolenko 81min), M Noble 7,
P Fornals 6 (S Haller 72) — M Antonio 7
(F Balbuena 90+4).
WATFORD
(4-2-3-1): B Foster 5 — K Femenía 5, C Kabasele 5,
C Dawson 5, A Masina 5 (A Mariappa, 46 5) —
W Hughes 5, A Doucouré 6 (N Chalobah 72) —
I Sarr 6, T Cleverley 5, D Welbeck 5 (J Pedro 86) —
T Deeney 5 (A Gray, 67).
Booked Cleverley, Hughes.
Referee M Atkinson.PW D L F A GD Pts
West Ham...............36 10 7 19 47 60 -13 37
Brighton.................. 36 8 13 15 37 53 -16 37
Watford................... 36 8 10 18 34 57 -23 34
Bournemouth....... 36 8 7 21 37 62 -25 31
Aston Villa.............. 36 8 7 21 39 66 -27 31
Norwich (R)............ 36 5 6 25 26 68 -42 21
Remaining fixtures:
Tomorrow Bournemouth v Southampton (2.0).
Monday Brighton & Hove Albion v Newcastle
United (6.0).
Tuesday Watford v Manchester City (6.0); Aston
Villa v Arsenal (8.15).
Wednesday Manchester United v West Ham
United (6.0)
Sunday, July 26 (all 4.0) Arsenal v Watford;
Burnley v Brighton & Hove Albion; Everton v
Bournemouth; West Ham United v Aston Villa.How bottom six stand
match, against Norwich City, he be-
came the first player to score four goals
for the club in a Premier League game.
His fitness is as sharp as Moyes has seen
in his two stints at the club and Noble
revealed that his advice to the 30-year-
old was: “As soon as I get the ball, make
sure you’re on your bike.” Not overly
sophisticated maybe, but it has been
working well enough and against
Watford Noble buzzed intently in the
vicinity of Antonio as if desperate for a
close-up view of his clinical finishing.
Sure enough, Antonio gave West
Ham an early lead after Watford were
sluggish to clear their lines allowing
Pablo Fornals to slide through a pass for
the in-form striker, whose finish was al-
most casual.
Watford were riled and Tom Clever-
ley was booked for a high boot thatstruck the face of Jarrod Bowen, who
shortly afterwards delivered a cross for
Tomas Soucek, the Czech Republic
international making no mistake as he
doubled his side’s lead with a header.
Aaron Cresswell was felled by the
elbow of Ismaïla Sarr but VAR deemed
it not a violent act and replays showed
that Sarr kept his eye on the ball. The
incident interrupted a rare phase of
Watford ambition as Pearson’s side
attempted to recover their composure.
Sarr then ran purposefully towards goal
only for Angelo Ogbonna to elegantly
dispossess the Senegal winger.
Few players have looked so delighted
to score as Rice when he produced a
shot that no one expected to beat Ben
Foster from 25 yards. Perhaps Rice was
inspired by the shouts from the
Watford bench to “stop the cross”. Hechose to shoot instead and then ran,
almost giggling, to hug his manager.
Nearby, Pearson looked ready to
explode.
Christian Kabasele almost scored
with a header from a Will Hughes
corner early in the second half and
looked crestfallen not to have done so.
But seconds later Watford pulled one
back when Troy Deeney met the ball as
it rebounded off the post after a shot by
Abdoulaye Doucouré.
It was a just reward for an obvious
change of gear and attitude. All they
could realistically hope for was a crisis
in confidence from Moyes’s team while
they pummelled away. It was a tactic
that left them vulnerable to the coun-
terattack, as illustrated by a long break-
away run from Bowen, but that was a
risk they had to take.
Sébastien Haller came off the bench
to produce a looping volley that forced
an excellent save from Foster as West
Ham found their second wind to leave
Moyes, for the second time in two years,
looking like he has pulled off the great
escape in east London.RESULTS
Premier League
West Ham United(3)3 Watford (0) 1
Antonio 6
Soucek 10
Rice 36Deeney 49Championship
Huddersfield Town(1)2 West Brom (1) 1
Willock 4
Smith Rowe 86O’Shea 42National League play-off final Boreham Wood 2 Halifax 1Football
Today
Premier League
Norwich City v Burnley (5.30)
FA Cup semi-final
Arsenal v Manchester City
Championship (3pm unless stated)
Charlton v Wigan (12.30); Stoke v Brentford (12.30);
Blackburn v Reading; Fulham v Sheffield Wednesday;
Hull v Luton; Middlesbrough v Cardiff; Preston v
Birmingham; QPR v Millwall; Swansea v Bristol City.
Tomorrow
Premier League
Bournemouth v Southampton (2.0); Tottenham Hotspur
v Leicester City(4.0)
FA Cup semi-final
Manchester United v Chelsea
Championship
Derby County v Leeds United; Barnsley v Nottingham
ForestCricket
Second Test: Emirates Old Trafford, Manchester
England v West Indies. Day three of five. (11.0)FIXTURES
Moyes’s entertainers close to safety
Antonio, after scoring four goals against Norwich, gave West Ham an early lead last night with Rice, left, adding the thirdMARC ASPLAND/NMC/POOLIt began as the battle of the deeply
troubled and ended with West Ham
United climbing above Brighton &
Hove Albion, almost breezily, on goal
difference into 15th place in the table
after a performance of zest and zeal
proving that relegation tussles are not
necessarily bleak affairs.
It is that relatively good goal
difference that makes it almost certain
that West Ham will escape relegation
and, when it is confirmed, it will be the
image of Declan Rice beaming in
incredulity after scoring a quite
delightful long-range goal that will best
define David Moyes’s efforts to keep the
club safe. The West Ham manager has,
somehow, turned the team into one
capable of entertaining while desperate
for points.
Watford now need to discount their
first-half performance here and
summon disciplined aggression as they
take on first Manchester City and then
Arsenal in a bid to survive. Nigel
Pearson accused some of his players as
being “passengers” in the first period.
They will not be able to afford anyone
being anything other than fully
engaged in their final two tests
of resilience.
“We know that [we have the
toughest run-in] but we have to
cope with it,” Pearson said. “I
can’t waste time thinking
about what everyone else will
do. We have to find a win in the
next two games.”
Half an hour before kick-off
Moyes and Pearson engaged in
one of the longest chats ever
seen between two managers out
on the pitch before a crucial
game. Both appeared relaxed in
spite of what was at stake but
then both knew exactly
what the other was feeling.
Indeed, Moyes said as
much in his pro-
gramme notes, in which
he also paid tribute to
Mark Noble, who madehis 500th appearance for West Ham
last night, placing him in the loy-
alty stakes alongside John
Terry, Steven Gerrard,
Jamie Carragher, Paul
Scholes and Ryan Giggs.
When it was announced that the
captain was marking this milestone,
the lack of proud cheers was a
mournful thing. He deserved a full
house but at the final whistle
left the pitch grinning in de-
light that his personal
achievement had coincided
with a team performance of
such significance.
The deployment of Michail
Antonio as striker may just have
been the most predictable out-
field selection of the campaign
given that in West Ham’s previous