David Moyes is reluctant to raise expectations when he discusses his European aspirations for West Ham but the team’s quality can only pose the possibility.
The loan signing of Jesse Lingard seems extremely shrewd on the basis of a debut in which he dispatched the two excellently taken goals and generally ran the show.
Jesse Lingard looked every bit a player who had been waiting since New Year’s Day last year to start a Premier League game again. He’s a classic signing for Moyes, who always wants a work ethic and to know precisely what he’s getting.
Thrown straight into the team after the loan move from Manchester United, the 28-year-old went off like an express train, sprinkling some creative star dust into the side team who dominated the first period.
Villa had their moments in a half full of enterprise and ambition from all quarters. Ollie Watkins curled a shot against the outside of the right post after an error from Craig Dawson had allowed Jack Grealish to attack the left flank which is his private fiefdom here.
To watch Grealish at close quarters is a privilege at the moment. ‘His spaceship lands from Pluto every couple of days,’ manager Dean Smith observed this week after Paul Merson had declared the captain to be currently on another planet. There were two back heels in the first ten minutes.
But West Ham combined the defensive cohesion which this team has been built on with the attacking imagination missing in the disappointing home defeat to Liverpool. Lingard and Michail Antonio both took aim to bring sharp saves from Emiliano Martinez. An Aaron Cresswell volley was blocked.
West Ham led six minutes into the second half as they maintained their first half momentum. The hugely influential Antonio won possession, allowing Said Benrahama to weight a pass for Tomas Soucek who raced ahead of the Villa defence. He had a lot still to do but finished well from the right side of the box.
A graphic demonstration of why the Czech player’s ability to take up attacking positions from midfield has led Moyes to compare him to Tim Cahill.
Antonio promptly supplied Lingard’s goal, picking him out on the left hand side of the area, from where he finished implacably with a powerful right foot shot.
West Ham would have immediately gone three ahead had Tyrone Mings not retreated to make an athletic goal line clearance after Antonio lifted the ball over Martinez.
Villa maintained some spirit. Watkins took on a shrewd through ball by Grealish to pull a goal back. But within two minutes Lingard took Antonio’s pass to finish powerfully again from ten yards.
West Ham justifiably hold on fifth place. Lingard did not disguise how it felt to be the man brought in from the cold.
