Stoke wounded West Ham’s Europa dreams, with a fortunate 2-1 win.
If Manchester United lose to Crystal Palace in the upcoming FA Cup final, West Ham’s anguish at failing to beat Swansea last weekend, and Stoke yesterday, will reach its harrowing apex. Thanks to those two losses, the Hammers are now entirely dependent on United lifting the famous trophy if they’re to compete in Europe next season. The defeat to Swansea was pitiful, a rightful beat-down of a West Ham that was distracted and malleable. After beating United one last time at the Boleyn, in their penultimate league game, all that was required to cement a Europa League spot was to dispatch of Stoke, a team that has been on the beach for some time.
EUROPE: A seventh-place finish means we will reach the Europa League third qualifying round if @ManUtd win the @EmiratesFACup next Saturday
— West Ham United FC (@whufc_official) 15 May 2016
They certainly had the chances to do it, and Slaven Bilic’s team should really have been two or three goals up by half-time. Countless opportunities were fashioned, with Mark Noble and Manuel Lanzini allowed great tracks of space in the middle of the park, and Michail Antonio storming forward from his refreshingly advanced wingers position. Stoke were awful in the first half, and not much better in the second, but West Ham matched their insipidness with equally appalling finishing, with Diafra Sakho, Enner Valencia, Andy Carroll, Emmanuel Emenike and Lanzini all profligate in the extreme. They sorely missed the cutting edge the injured Dimitri Payet either provides or inspires, and as Mame Biram Diouf headed in Stoke’s winner, the smash-and-grab was complete. Manchester United really ought to beat Palace on the 21st of May, but Bilic will be sick that his team have allowed their fate to slip from their own hands.
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