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Blast from the past
30th January 2008, 13 years ago today – Gordon Brown was Prime Minister, Basshunter was number one with ‘Now You’re Gone’, Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street topped the UK box office and Jeremy Beadle died. Meanwhile, West Ham United secured a 1-0 Premier League victory over Liverpool in front of 34,977 at Upton Park.
Former Hammers midfielder Yossi Benayoun was in the visitors’ starting XI that evening – Alan Curbishley’s Irons went into the match having lost just three of their previous 14 league matches. Rafa Benitez’s Reds had not won in the league for over a month but they had beaten the Hammers in their previous seven meetings. Benayoun fired an early shot over the bar, Mark Noble’s free-kick was flicked onto his own crossbar by Steve Finnan and, in the dying seconds of the first half, Benayoun blocked a Carlton Cole effort. Luis Boa Morte twice missed from six yards, while Fernando Torres’ shot was saved by Robert Green.
Deep into stoppage time at the end of the game, substitute Matthew Etherington found Freddie Ljungberg as the Hammers counter attacked – the Swede was brought down by Jamie Carragher as he cut inside the England defender and the Irons were awarded a last-gasp penalty. 20-year-old Mark Noble stepped up against Pepe Reina, the Spanish stopper who had saved three West Ham penalties in the 2006 FA Cup Final shoot-out. As Upton Park held its breath, nerveless Noble found the bottom corner with virtually the last kick of the match and the East End erupted. The action from this game can be viewed in my video below.
Curbishley’s Hammers went on to finish the 2007/08 Premier League season in tenth place, while Benitez’s Liverpool ended up fourth. Dean Ashton would go on to be the Hammers’ top scorer that season, with 11 goals in 35 matches. Goalkeeper Green would be voted Hammer of the Year, with George McCartney runner-up. Manchester United won the title and Portsmouth won the FA Cup.
West Ham United: Robert Green, Lucas Neill, Anton Ferdinand, Matthew Upson, George McCartney, Freddie Ljungberg, Hayden Mullins, Mark Noble, Lee Bowyer (Dean Ashton), Luis Boa Morte (Matthew Etherington), Carlton Cole (Jonathan Spector).
Liverpool: Pepe Reina, Steve Finnan, Sami Hyypia, Jamie Carragher, Fabio Aurelio, Yossi Benayoun (Ryan Babel), Xabi Alonso, Steven Gerrard, Harry Kewell (Lucas Leiva), Dirk Kuyt, Fernando Torres.
Club Connections
Liverpool goalkeeper Adrian returns to his former club. A whole host of players join the Spaniard in having turned out for both West Ham United and Liverpool, particularly over the last 30 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, Mike Marsh.
Strikers: Craig Bellamy, Robbie Keane, Peter Kyle, Titi Camara, David Speedie, Andy Carroll, 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 winger who played for Liverpool before joining the Hammers. Stewart Downing was born in Middlesbrough on 22nd July 1984 and came through the youth system at his hometown club, making his full debut in April 2002 at the age of 17. He played for England Under-16s, Under-18s, Under-19s and Under-21s and made 234 appearances in his first spell at Middlesbrough, scoring 22 goals and winning the League Cup in 2004. He also had a loan spell at Sunderland in 2003, scoring three goals in seven matches in the second tier.
The 20-year-old Downing made his England debut under Sven-Goran Eriksson in a 0-0 friendly draw at Villa Park against the Netherlands on 9th February 2005. Downing was also voted Middlesbrough’s Player of the Season for 2004/05. Shortly after being a UEFA Cup finalist, Downing was selected in England’s squad for the 2006 World Cup and made three substitute appearances against Paraguay, Trinidad & Tobago and Ecuador.
After Middlesbrough’s relegation in 2009, Downing joined Aston Villa for a fee of £10m, rising to £12m based on appearances; he missed out on a place in Fabio Capello’s 2010 World Cup squad. After two seasons, 79 appearances, 11 goals, a League Cup Final appearance in 2010 and being voted Player of the Season for 2010/11, the 27-year-old Downing moved to Kenny Dalglish’s Liverpool for an estimated £20m in the summer of 2011.
Downing made his Reds debut in a 1-1 draw with former club Sunderland at Anfield on 13th August 2011. He scored his first Liverpool goal in a 5-1 home win over Oldham in the FA Cup third round on 6th January 2012; his second goal for the club was the winner in the quarter-final against Stoke ten weeks later. Downing won the League Cup for a second time in February 2012, a game in which he was awarded the Alan Hardaker Trophy for being the Man of the Match as Liverpool beat Cardiff on penalties. He was also an FA Cup finalist in the same year – his tackle on Jose Bosingwa set up future Hammers team-mate Andy Carroll for the Reds’ goal in their 2-1 defeat to Chelsea in the Final. He ended the season by being named in Roy Hodgson’s England squad for the 2012 European Championships but he did not get any game time during the tournament.
Under new manager Brendan Rodgers, Downing began the 2012/13 campaign with a goal in a 1-0 Europa League qualifying win against Gomel in Belarus on 2nd August 2012. He also scored in the group stage, in a 1-0 win over Anzhi at Anfield on 25th October. Downing scored his first Premier League goal for Liverpool in a 4-0 home thrashing of Fulham on 22nd December. He also scored in a 4-0 win at Wigan on 2nd March 2013 and in a 3-2 home win over Tottenham eight days later – his strike against Spurs would be his last goal in a red shirt. Downing made his final appearance for the club in a 1-0 home win against QPR on 19th May 2013.
After seven goals in 91 appearances for Liverpool, Downing signed for Sam Allardyce’s West Ham United in August 2013 for a reported £5m, joining up with former Liverpool team-mate Carroll who had signed permanently for the Irons a few weeks earlier. The 29-year-old Downing made his Hammers debut as a substitute in a 2-0 opening day home victory over Cardiff on 17th August 2013 – he went on to make 37 appearances in his first season, scoring his first goal for the club from a free-kick in a 2-0 win over Tottenham at Upton Park on 3rd May 2014 as the Hammers finished 13th.
Downing had a fantastic season in 2014/15, with his move from the wing to the tip of a midfield diamond paying individual and team dividends. He scored in the first away game of the season at Crystal Palace, cutting in from the right to finish low into the far corner – it was the second goal in a 3-1 Hammers win. The Irons had pushed into the Premier League’s top four by the time Downing inspired a comeback from 2-0 down at Stoke to claim a point on 1st November 2014 – he set up the first for Enner Valencia before firing home right-footed to complete the fightback and claim a point.
Downing’s excellent form had not gone unnoticed by England manager Hodgson, who rewarded the 30-year-old with his first England appearance in two and a half years against Scotland in a friendly at Celtic Park, Glasgow. Downing played the first half in a 3-1 Three Lions win. It would transpire to be his 35th and final cap – he never scored a senior goal for his country.
Downing kept up his impressive club form, scoring in successive games in December 2014. The first was a deflected effort which won a point in a 1-1 draw at former club Sunderland and the second was a stunning strike in a 2-0 home win over Leicester, killing the ball with his first touch before bending a strike from distance into the corner of Kasper Schmeichel’s goal to seal the points after Carroll’s first half goal had put the Hammers in front. Downing began the calendar year of 2015 in a similar vein, scoring in a 3-0 home win over Hull, but the Hammers would tail off dramatically and end up finishing 12th. His final goal for West Ham came in his last home match, giving the Hammers the lead against Everton with a trademark curled left-footed effort after cutting in from the right to give the Irons the lead – in a microcosm of the Irons’ season though, they would throw away the lead late on and lose the match 2-1.
Downing’s final match for the Hammers was the 2-0 defeat at Newcastle on 24th May, the final day of the 2014/15 season. He had made 79 appearances for the club in all competitions, scoring seven goals. He returned to his first club Middlesbrough later that summer in a £5.5m deal, dropping down to the Championship to seal a move back to his roots. He won promotion to the Premier League in the first season of his second spell, earning West Ham an extra £1.5m as part of the transfer deal. The top flight return was short-lived though, with an immediate relegation sending Middlesbrough and Downing back to the Championship. Released by Boro in the summer of 2019, Downing joined Blackburn – he left Ewood Park last summer but, now 36, rejoined Rovers in November.
Referee
The referee on Sunday will be Jonathan Moss. The Yorkshire-based official’s matches in charge of the Hammers last season were our 1-0 win at Chelsea in November, our 2-0 home defeat to Liverpool last January and, most recently, our 3-2 defeat at Anfield last February.
Arguably the 50-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.
Possible line-ups
David Moyes’ West Ham United are without the injured Arthur Masuaku, while Darren Randolph is a doubt. New loan signing Jesse Lingard was not registered in time to appear in tomorrow’s squad. West Ham are winless in nine Premier League matches against Liverpool, drawing two and losing seven since winning 2-0 at Upton Park in January 2016. The Hammers’ most recent victory against the Reds came in an FA Cup fourth round replay under Super Slaven Bilic at Upton Park in February 2016. Michail Antonio has scored in four of his six Premier League appearances against Liverpool, netting four goals. Tomas Soucek’s seven league goals have been worth ten points to West Ham this season.
Liverpool are without Joe Gomez, Virgil van Dijk, Naby Keita and Diogo Jota, while Joel Matip and Fabinho are doubts. Mohamed Salah has gone six league matches without a goal, equalling his longest barren spell for Liverpool in the division.
Looking ahead to our match against Aston Villa, Matt Targett and Jack Grealish are both one yellow card away from a one-match suspension – Villa play at Southampton on Saturday night.
Possible West Ham United XI: Fabianski; Coufal, Dawson, Ogbonna, Cresswell; Soucek, Rice; Bowen, Benrahma, Fornals; Antonio.
Possible Liverpool XI: Alisson; Alexander-Arnold, Henderson, Phillips, Robertson; Jones, Wijnaldum, Tiago; Salah, Firmino, Mane.
Enjoy the game – Up The Hammers!