West Ham produced a professional performance to secure top spot in Group A and a place in the Europa League last 16 with a 2-0 win over a below-par Freiburg on Thursday night.
The Hammers took the lead when Mohammed Kudus made a clever run and lashed in his seventh goal of the season, with the brilliant Edson Alvarez’s first for the club doubling the lead just before the break.
Freiburg – who had won their last three games, without conceding, in all competitions – found themselves in positions of promise on several occasions, but did little to test Lukasz Fabianski, who once again deputised in goal for Alphonse Areola.
As a result, while the Hammers advance straight to the last 16, which takes place in March, the Bundesliga side will face a knockout round play-off in February to attempt to earn their spot in the next round of the competition.
How West Ham strolled to top spot
As much as West Ham knew what they had to do to finish top of their group, providing an adequate response to Sunday’s thumping 5-0 defeat away at Fulham was no doubt high on the priority list for David Moyes and his players.
It did not take long for them to get into their stride. First, Kudus skipped away from his man and squared for Lucas Paqueta to rattle a shot off the crossbar, before the Ghana international made a clever run to beat the offside trap, latch onto Alvarez’s ball over the top and fire across Noah Atubolu, into the back of the net.
Mohammed Kudus celebrates putting West Ham 1-0 up at the London Stadium
Jarrod Bowen then had the ball in the net after a carbon copy of the opener, only to be ruled offside in the build-up, but it was 2-0 when Alvarez received the ball from Paqueta, escaped his marker, collected the return pass from Bowen and fired home a damaging second just before the break.
Early in the second half, Kudus came close to a second, when he fired inches past the post after being released by Bowen, but as the game progressed, it became clearer missed chances would not be punished.
David Moyes’ side do not play in the Europa League again until March
Freiburg had created 0.09 xG by the break, 0.14 by the hour mark and set-piece routines were not coming to fruition for them, either. Moyes could even afford to withdraw Bowen and Paqueta with almost 20 minutes remaining.
In fairness, the German side did manage to test Fabianski towards the end. Ritsu Doan’s low effort was kept out by a well-timed dive to the right, before Merlin Rohl’s shot with five minutes to play was held, too. But it was too little, too late.
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Speaking on the ‘Football Show’, Peter Smith assesses David Moyes’ contract situation at West Ham, with his current deal set to expire at the end of the season.
What’s next?
Sunday 17th December 1:00pm
Kick off 2:00pm
West Ham turn their attention back to the Premier League as they play Wolves at home on Super Sunday, live on Sky Sports with kick-off at 2pm.
Freiburg take on FC Koln in the Bundesliga on Sunday, with kick-off at 2.30pm.