In a season of very few highs, the 2010/2011 campaign was lit up by two gutsy displays against the team West Ham meet on Sunday, Tottenham Hotspur.
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An inept manager in Avram Grant, a team that lacked backbone and a leader the Hammers found themselves feeling that sinking feeling again and were relegated back to the Championship for the first time since 2005.
The season will largely want to be forgotten by the East end club, but Avram Grant did a few things right, he beat Liverpool at home 3-1, but most importantly his team didn’t lose to rivals Spurs, better still his side didn’t even concede a goal.
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The home game in September was one of my first games as a season ticket holder, and one that will live long in the memory for many reasons. It was my first Tottenham game since Lasagne gate, so to say I was buzzing was an understatement. And two we won, in a way it gave us a sort of false dawn, maybe everything was going to be okay. A Freddie Piquionne header separated the sides as Spurs struggled to break down an uncharacteristically dogged West Ham defence.
The Hammers who had a woeful record at the Lane before that game went into the game in 17th place, knowing a win would put a two point gap between themselves and the relegation zone. In what at the time was a very close Premier League table, with just a point separating 18th place and 13th place. The Hammers had to look back to a last gasp header from Anton Ferdinand for any joy at the Lane before the game.
The Irons lined up with Green in goal, Upson, De Costa, Bridge and Jacobson across the back four, the workhorse of the side Parker battling for balls with Noble and O’Neil in midfield alongside ‘Der Hammer’ Thomas Hitzlsperger, the Hammers had Demba Ba and Carlton Cole leading the line. On paper, how that team went down I’ll never know, but we’ve been there before in 2003.
When you look at teletext and see a 0-0 draw you sometimes expect a dull affair, but this game was quite the opposite, the game ebbed and flowed and both managers will argue their side could have picked up all three points. Avram Grant’s men battle for every ball and no player went missing in a game that meant so much to the fans and players alike.
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Tottenham Hotspur who need a win for very differing reasons than the Hammers, will argue that they had the better of the chances, and the stats don’t lie. Spurs hit the crossbar three times and but for a last ditch save from Man of the Match Robert Green from a Gareth Bale free kick the north Londoners would have walked away with three points.
But it wasn’t all Spurs as Demba Ba rattled a shot towards goal only for Gomes to superbly save the thunderous strike, which was heading for the bottom corner of net. Mark Noble fired wide of the post with an ambitious overhead kick as the Hammers went for a vital win.
Looking back at the BBC match report, reporter David Ornstien praised the Hammers resilience and doggedness he said “ Harry Redknapp will wonder how his team failed to break the deadlock, but take nothing away from West Ham, who are now unbeaten in four Premier League games and look a side transformed in recent weeks.”
Former Hammers Jermaine Defoe was the home side’s main threat but he couldn’t find a way past a stubborn Hammers defence and when he did he couldn’t find a way past the excellent Robert Green. His best chance came when Aaron Lennon fizzed a low shot across goal which cannoned off the far post, but Defoe failed to adjust his body in time and the chance went a begging.
