Ahead of the Saturday evening fixture against Brighton and Hove Albion, hardly anyone will have predicted how comprehensive West Ham’s victory on the south coast would’ve been.
Roberto De Zerbi’s Seagulls have won multiple plaudits over the past few months, but they were well beaten by a Hammers side who went top of the Premier League table with their 3-1 win.
All of their goals were outstanding, with Jarrod Bowen’s – West Ham’s second – the pick of the bunch, coming as it did at the end of a lightning fast counter attack.
James Ward-Prowse’s first for the club was no more than he deserved, whilst Michail Antonio’s superbly crafted third was a just reward for all of his hard work.
Much of the play from the visitors was expansive and opened up the hosts at will, rather than an expected defensive master class from David Moyes.
This was the West Ham of the season before last, when they made it into the latter stages of the Europa League, rather than last season’s vintage, who won the Europa Conference League but were poor domestically.
With Mohammed Kudus still to be added to the squad, and potentially Sevilla’s Youssef En-Nesyri in the final days of the transfer window, the east Londoners are likely to be a real force to be reckoned with in 2023/24.
Many people had written Moyes and his squad off before the beginning of the season, but they’ll surprise an awful lot of them if they continue with this form.