Well I never! As soon as I predicted a 3-0 defeat in the Predictor League I started feeling in my water that it might turn out a little differently. And boy did it. One nil up within three minutes, two nil up after half an hour, and then Coutinho gets sent off. But life is never simple, is it? Mark Noble was then sent off with ten minutes to go in an outrageous decision by Kevin Friend, which must surely be overturned. But justice prevailed and Sakho sealed it with a third in injury time. Just wow.
The main thing is we got a result at a ground we haven’t won at since I was one year old, back in September 1963. And we now have 6 points and are firmly in the top half.
David Hautzig will post his full match report a bit later but in the meantime, here are some talking points, and it would be good to hear from people who actually saw the game.
* Manuel Lanzini scored on his Europa League debut. He’s now scored on his Premier League debut, and by all accounts had a stormer of a game. How good did he look?
* Was there any justification for Mark Noble’s sending off – our 6th so far this season and we’re only at the end of August
* How good was the overall performance, bearing in mind no one gave us a hope before the game?
* How did we look defensively?
* How did Payet do, and did Sakho look fit?
And finally, how on earth can we beat both Arsenal and Liverpool, yet lose to Leicester and Bournemouth? Same old West Ham…