Blast from the past
Today’s blast from the past features a 1-0 victory on the 3rd of September 1962, with West Ham United welcoming the previous campaign’s Second Division title-winners, Liverpool. American poet E. E. Cummings died on this day at the age of 67, Frank Ifield was number one with ‘I Remember You’ and William Holden and Trevor Howard were starring in The Lion in UK cinemas.
The Irons went into the game third bottom of the table after five games – a 3-1 defeat at Aston Villa had been followed by successive heavy home defeats to Wolves (4-1) and Tottenham (6-1) before a 0-0 draw at Wolves in the reverse fixture arrested the slump. A 2-0 defeat at Leyton Orient immediately prior to the visit of Liverpool piled the pressure back on though.
The Hammers scored the only goal of this Monday evening encounter courtesy of 21-year-old Tony Scott (pictured). This was the Huntingdon-born right winger’s seventh goal of 19 in his West Ham career, which spanned from 1960 to 1965. The 1962/63 season turned out to be Scott’s best for West Ham as he went on to score ten goals in 34 appearances, this strike against the Reds being the first of them. Scott made 97 appearances in claret and blue before departing for Aston Villa. He went on to play for Torquay, where he played under former Hammer Frank O’Farrell and was reunited with former team-mate John Bond. He followed Bond to Bournemouth, where he also teamed up with another former team-mate in Ken Brown, before finishing his playing days at Exeter. Now 77, Scott lives in Perth, Australia.
Ron Greenwood’s West Ham would end the season in 12th place while Bill Shankly’s Liverpool finished in 8th. Bobby Moore won the second of his four Hammer of the Year titles, with Jim Standen voted runner-up. Geoff Hurst was the Irons’ top goalscorer in 1962/63 with 15 goals from 29 appearances. Everton won the First Division title and Manchester United won the FA Cup.
West Ham United: Lawrie Leslie, John Bond, Bobby Moore, Ken Brown, Jack Burkett, Martin Peters, Tony Scott, Phil Woosnam, Johnny Byrne, Geoff Hurst, Malcolm Musgrove.
Liverpool: Jim Furnell, Gerry Byrne, Ron Yeats, Phil Ferns, Ronnie Moran, Gordon Milne, Jimmy Melia, Ian Callaghan, Roger Hunt, Ian St John, Alan A’Court.
Club Connections
Andy Carroll welcomes his former club. A whole host of players join the striker in having turned out for both West Ham United and Liverpool, particularly over the last 25 years. These include:
Goalkeepers: Charles Cotton, David James.
Defenders: Alvaro Arbeloa, Rob Jones, David Burrows, Glen Johnson, Paul Konchesky, Rigobert Song, Julian Dicks, Neil Ruddock, Thomas Stanley.
Midfielders: Don Hutchison, Yossi Benayoun, Joe Cole, Victor Moses, Paul Ince, Ray Houghton, Javier Mascherano, Stewart Downing, Mike Marsh.
Strikers: Craig Bellamy, Peter Kyle, Titi Camara, David Speedie, Neil Mellor, Charlie Satterthwaite, Danny Shone, Tom Bradshaw.
George Kay made 237 league appearances for the Hammers between 1919 and 1926, becoming the first-ever player to play more than 200 league matches for the club. Kay was also the West Ham captain in the 1923 FA Cup Final. He went on to manage Liverpool between 1936 and 1951, winning the First Division title in 1947.
Today’s focus falls on a striker who played for Liverpool before spending a loan spell with the Hammers. Born in Dublin on 8th July 1980, Robbie Keane spent three years at Wolves before signing for Coventry for £6m, then a British record for a teenager. He was signed by Inter Milan in July 2000 but was loaned to Leeds the following winter, making the move to Elland Road permanent in the summer of 2001. He moved to Tottenham a year later and spent six years at White Hart Lane before signing for Rafa Benitez’s Liverpool for £19m in July 2008.
The 28-year-old Keane made his debut for the Reds on 13th August 2008 in a 0-0 draw at Standard Liege in the first leg of the Champions League third qualifying round. Keane scored his first goal for Liverpool on 1st October 2008 in a 3-1 Champions League group stage win against PSV Eindhoven at Anfield; a second Champions League goal quickly followed with Keane scoring the opening goal in Liverpool’s 1-1 draw away to Atlético Madrid. Premier League goals were less forthcoming but he scored twice for Liverpool against West Bromwich Albion on 8th November 2008 and also scored in a 1-1 draw at Arsenal the following month. He scored twice in a 3-0 win against Bolton at Anfield on Boxing Day 2008 – these would be his final goals for Liverpool. His last appearance for the Reds came in a 1-1 draw at Wigan on 28th January 2009.
After seven goals in 28 games for Liverpool, Keane returned to Tottenham in February 2009, just over six months after leaving the club. He joined Celtic on loan a year later before another loan move materialised in late January 2011, this time to Avram Grant’s West Ham United. The Hammers were in the bottom three when Keane arrived and had an option to extend the deal by two years if they avoided relegation from the Premier League. The 30-year-old Keane made a goalscoring debut for the Irons on 2nd February 2011 in a 3-1 win at Blackpool, turning home a rebound after Victor Obinna had seen two efforts saved by Richard Kingson. His second and final goal for the Hammers came in a 2-1 home defeat to Aston Villa on 16th April 2011, with his final game for the club being a 3-2 defeat at Wigan on 15th May 2011 which confirmed the Hammers’ relegation to the Championship. Keane had missed two crucial chances in previous weeks, the first with the Hammers 1-0 down at Stamford Bridge in a game they eventually lost 3-0, and the other a gilt-edged late opportunity in front of an open goal which would have given the Irons a vital 2-1 win against Blackburn. After two goals in ten appearances in claret and blue, Keane returned to Tottenham.
Keane joined LA Galaxy in the summer of 2011 and returned briefly to the Premier League with Aston Villa on loan between January and March 2012. After five years in the MLS, Keane moved to Indian side ATK in the summer of 2017, to play under former Tottenham team-mate and ex-Hammer Teddy Sheringham. He was briefly player-manager of the club before announcing his retirement in November of last year. Now 38, Keane is currently assistant coach of the Republic of Ireland, for whom he scored 68 goals in 146 appearances as a player – no player has won more caps or scored more goals for the Irish national team than Keane.
Referee
Monday’s referee is Kevin Friend. The Leicester-based official has been involved in top-flight matches since 2009 and took charge of the Hammers in our historic 3-0 victory at Liverpool in August 2015. He sent off Liverpool’s Philippe Coutinho and West Ham’s Mark Noble in that match at Anfield, with the latter’s dismissal rescinded on appeal. Friend’s Hammers appointments last season were in September 2017 for our 2-0 home win over Huddersfield, our 1-0 League Cup quarter-final defeat at Arsenal in December and our 1-1 draw at Chelsea in April.
Friend most recently refereed the Hammers in our 1-0 defeat at Brighton in October. He is also remembered for the soft penalty he gifted Hull in our 1-0 defeat at the KC Stadium in September 2013 when Joey O’Brien was adjudged to have shoved Robbie Brady. Friend compounded the error by later denying the Irons a clear penalty when Jake Livermore handled in the area. Don’t expect much from Friend in the way of handball decisions – he also denied the Hammers a penalty in a match at Everton when Aaron Cresswell’s cross was handled by Seamus Coleman.
Possible line-ups
Manuel Pellegrini has confirmed that Winston Reid is not expected back in action this season. West Ham United, defeated in their previous three games in all competitions, are also without the injured Fabian Balbuena, Carlos Sanchez, Jack Wilshere, Manuel Lanzini, Samir Nasri and Andriy Yarmolenko. Late decisions will be made on Aaron Cresswell, Marko Arnautovic and Lucas Perez, while Lukasz Fabianski should be available to start. The Hammers failed to register a single shot on target against Wolves – the last time that happened in a Premier League match was against Arsenal in December 2017.
Liverpool are without Trent Alexander-Arnold, Joe Gomez, Dejan Lovren and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain. The Reds have won their last four games against West Ham, winning two of those matches 4-0 and the other two 4-1. None of the last 13 Premier League meetings between West Ham and Liverpool in East London have ended level, with West Ham winning four and Liverpool claiming nine victories since a 1-1 draw in December 2001.
Possible West Ham United XI: Fabianski; Zabaleta, Diop, Ogbonna, Cresswell; Rice, Noble, Obiang; Antonio, Chicharito, Anderson.
Possible Liverpool XI: Alisson; Milner, Matip, van Dijk, Robertson; Fabinho, Henderson, Keita; Salah, Firmino, Mane.
Enjoy the game – Come On You Irons!