Blast from the past
3rd October 1999 – the Rugby World Cup had just started in Wales, Eiffel 65 were number one with ‘Blue (Da Ba Dee)’ and Big Daddy was in UK cinemas
Meanwhile, 26,009 at the Boleyn Ground saw the Hammers edge to a first home victory over their north London rivals in 12 years, with Paolo Di Canio proving to be the difference between the two sides. The Italian gave the Irons the lead on 29 minutes when he embarked on a solo run which took him to the edge of the Arsenal penalty area – the ball broke for Trevor Sinclair to nudge the ball past England goalkeeper David Seaman and Di Canio got the final touch to make it 1-0 at half-time.
Di Canio doubled the lead with 18 minutes to play – Shaka Hislop’s long kick downfield found its way to Paolo who expertly brought the ball inside Martin Keown and beat Tony Adams and Seaman to cushion a composed finish into the top corner. Future Hammer Davor Suker prodded a consolation for the visitors five minutes later after Steve Lomas headed the ball into his path. An eventful last six minutes saw Patrick Vieira sent off, the Frenchman receiving his second yellow card for a foul on the irrepressible Di Canio – Vieira did not go quietly, spitting at Hammers defender Neil Ruddock before he was ushered from the field. Hammers midfielder Marc-Vivien Foe was more gracious in his departure when he received his marching orders, also for a second booking, in the final minute. All the goals and red cards from the game can be seen in my video below.
Harry Redknapp’s Hammers would finish ninth in the Premier League in 1999/2000. Di Canio would be top scorer with 18 goals in 45 appearances and was named Hammer of the Year, with Sinclair runner-up. Arsenal would finish runners-up to champions Manchester United, while Chelsea won the FA Cup.
West Ham United: Shaka Hislop, Steve Potts, Igor Stimac, Neil Ruddock, Steve Lomas, Marc-Vivien Foe, Frank Lampard Junior, John Moncur (Javier Margas), Trevor Sinclair, Paulo Wanchope (Paul Kitson), Paolo Di Canio.
Arsenal: David Seaman, Oleg Luzhny (Marc Overmars), Martin Keown, Tony Adams, Silvinho, Freddie Ljungberg, Gilles Grimandi, Patrick Vieira, Thierry Henry (Nwankwo Kanu), Davor Suker, Dennis Bergkamp.
Club Connections
A large group of players have turned out for West Ham United and Arsenal. Carl Jenkinson is currently on loan at Birmingham from the Gunners having spent two of the previous three seasons on loan at the Hammers. Other players to have represented both clubs include:
Goalkeepers: Charles Ambler, Richard Wright, Manuel Almunia, Jim Standen.
Defenders: Matthew Upson, Nigel Winterburn, Steve Walford, Bob Stevenson.
Midfielders: Stewart Robson, Liam Brady, Yossi Benayoun, Archie Macauley, David Bentley, James Bigden, Roddy McEachrane, Jimmy Jackson, Alex Song, Henri Lansbury, Fred Kemp, Fredrik Ljungberg.
Strikers: Harry Lewis, Bobby Gould, Jeremie Aliadiere, Dick Burgess, John Blackwood, Fergie Hunt, Dr Jimmy Marshall, Kaba Diawara, Jimmy Bloomfield, Charlie Satterthwaite, Marouane Chamakh, Billy Linward, Lee Chapman, Tommy Lee, Ian Wright, Peter Kyle, John Hartson, Stan Earle, John Radford, Davor Suker.
Ron Greenwood was also assistant manager at Arsenal before becoming manager of West Ham.
Today’s focus though falls on a Portuguese player who had a spell with Arsenal in the late 1990s before later playing for West Ham. Luis Boa Morte was born on the 4th August 1977 in Lisbon and started his professional career at Sporting Lisbon. He became one of Arsene Wenger’s first signings for Arsenal when he joined in 1997 for a fee of £1.75m. He made his debut on 23rd August 1997 as a substitute against future club Southampton. He made 15 league appearances during Arsenal’s double winning 1997/98 season, mostly as substitute. He also played four matches in the FA Cup that season – although he did not appear in the final itself, Boa Morte did score a penalty in the quarter-final shoot-out win against West Ham at Upton Park. He scored two goals that season, both in a League Cup tie against Birmingham.
He remained a fairly regular squad member in 1998/99, usually as substitute in the early part of the season. He also appeared for the Gunners in the European Cup, scoring Arsenal’s third goal against Panathinaikos on 9th December 1998. His fourth and final Arsenal goal came against Preston in the FA Cup. He came on as a substitute as Arsenal won the 1999 Charity Shield and his final appearance for the Gunners was as a second-half substitute at Sunderland on 14th August 1999. Having failed to break into the first-team on a regular basis at Highbury, he signed for Dave Jones’ Southampton in August 1999 for an initial fee of £500,000. He joined Fulham on a season-long loan in the summer of 2000 with the move to Craven Cottage later being made permanent.
After six and a half seasons in west London, the 29-year-old Boa Morte moved east to sign for Alan Curbishley’s West Ham United in January 2007 for a reported fee of £5m, setting up two goals on his debut in a 3-0 home win against Brighton in the FA Cup. He replaced crowd favourite Matthew Etherington for the closing stages of ‘The Great Escape’ and scored his first goal for the Hammers in a crucial 3-0 win at Wigan on 28th April 2007.
He made 40 starts in total in 2007/08 and 2008/09, without scoring. After representing his country in the 2006 World Cup, Boa Morte earned an international recall in June 2009. However, disaster struck when, on 29th July 2009, Boa Morte picked up a serious injury in a pre-season friendly against Tottenham Hotspur when playing in the Barclays Asia Trophy in Beijing – the midfielder got his studs stuck in the ground, twisted his knee and suffered an anterior cruciate ligament injury. This kept him sidelined for all but the final game of 2009/10 – he made his return to action in the final day 1-1 draw with Manchester City, marking his comeback by scoring his only goal at Upton Park. Both of Boa Morte’s goals for the Hammers can be viewed in my video below.
Boa Morte signed a contract extension but, after relegation the following summer, his contract was terminated by mutual consent. After two goals in 109 matches for West Ham, Boa Morte signed for his former Fulham manager Chris Coleman at Greek side AE Larissa in August 2011. After just six months, the Portuguese international was on the move again, signing for South African club Orlando Pirates. Boa Morte ended his professional career in January 2013 after a two-month spell at Chesterfield. He has since managed Fulham’s Under-21 side, been assistant manager of Sporting Lisbon’s B team and managed the club’s Under-19s. He has scouted for Arsenal and now, at the age of 40, is manager of Portuguese third division club Sintrense.
Referee
The referee on Wednesday will be Jonathan Moss. The Yorkshire-based official has sent off a player in six of his last eight appointments involving the Hammers – the 4-3 defeat to Bournemouth in August 2015 saw Carl Jenkinson sent off, while the 2-1 win over Chelsea last October saw Nemanja Matic dismissed (then-Blues manager Jose Mourinho was also sent to the stands). Moss issued a red card to Jordan Ayew of Aston Villa in February with the Hammers going on to win 2-0 while, going further back, Burnley’s Michael Duff was also sent off by Moss in our 1-0 home win over the Clarets in May 2015.
Moss also issued a red card to Cheikhou Kouyate in the 5-1 FA Cup fifth round win at Blackburn in February, although this was later rescinded. Arguably the 47-year-old’s most controversial Hammers appointment was the 2-2 draw at Leicester in April 2016 when he sent off Jamie Vardy and awarded two penalties, the second arriving deep into stoppage time as the Foxes rescued a precious point. Moss refereed the Hammers twice last season – the first being the 3-0 home defeat to Southampton in September 2016 and he sent Mourinho to the stands in his most recent match in charge of the Hammers, last season’s 1-1 draw at Manchester United.
Possible line-ups
West Ham United will be without Sam Byram, Jose Fonte, James Collins, Cheikhou Kouyate and Edimilson Fernandes. Since the aforementioned match in 1999, West Ham have only beaten Arsenal once in 15 home matches in all competitions (in November 2006).
Arsenal will be without Shkodran Mustafi, Aaron Ramsey and Santi Cazorla, but Theo Walcott should be available.
With one eye on Saturday’s visit to Stoke, Winston Reid is one yellow card away from missing the match.
Possible West Ham United XI: Adrian; Zabaleta, Reid, Ogbonna, Cresswell, Masuaku; Noble, Obiang, Lanzini; Arnautovic, Antonio.
Possible Arsenal XI: Cech; Bellerin, Mertesacker, Koscielny, Monreal, Kolasinac; Wilshere, Xhaka; Ozil, Lacazette, Sanchez.
Enjoy the game – Up The Hammers!