West Ham vs Genk LIVE: Europa League result, final score and reaction tonight
Relive all the live action from the London Stadium
West Ham continued their European cruise with a thumping 3-0 win over Belgian side Genk.
Goals from Craig Dawson, Issa Diop and Jarrod Bowen made it three wins out of three for the Hammers in their maiden Europa League group campaign and kept them firmly on course for the knockout stages.
West Ham are already six points clear at the top of Group H and could even secure qualification as group winners in their next match, in Genk in a fortnight, with two games to spare.
Unlike Sunday’s opponents Tottenham, who left their entire starting XI at home for their unsuccessful continental trip to Vitesse Arnhem, Hammers boss David Moyes kept the likes of Bowen, Declan Rice, Tomas Soucek and Aaron Cresswell in his line-up.
Moyes is clearly eager to secure qualification as quickly as possible, although he took no risks with striker Michail Antonio, having rested him completely ahead of the London derby.
Antonio’s absence as the focal point of West Ham’s attack was felt in a disjointed first half against the Belgian Cup holders.
The hosts were given an early fright when Genk had the ball in the net after Theo Bongonda converted a cross from Junya Ito, but the latter was offside.
Soucek had needed plastic surgery on some horrific facial injuries earlier in the week, having been caught by a stray boot against Everton on Sunday.
But that did not stop the Czech international getting his head to a Rice cross for West Ham’s best chance of the opening stages, with Genk goalkeeper Maarten Vandevoordt making a diving save.
With the Hammers settling down, Bowen missed a golden opportunity on the half hour when he kicked at thin air in front of goal from Ben Johnson’s inviting low cross, and Dawson headed over from a corner.
Yet West Ham had another lucky escape when goalkeeper Alphonse Areola was beaten to a cross by Genk’s towering striker Paul Onuachu, whose header looped just wide.
Bowen failed to get on the end of another low cross, this time from Cresswell, before West Ham broke the deadlock in first-half stoppage time.
Cresswell swung in a corner and centre-half Dawson rose highest to steer the ball home off his shoulder.
West Ham have become set-piece specialists under Moyes and they were at it again at the start of the second half, Dawson’s defensive partner Diop heading home at the near post from Cresswell’s free-kick.
Moments later the hosts stole possession near the halfway line and Bowen galloped forward before firing home a fine solo goal to wrap up the victory.
Vitesse vs Tottenham
Here come the teams. There’s a loud roar from the Vitesse fans as the players make their way out onto the pitch for the first ever meeting between these clubs.
The fans are waving black and yellow flags, there’s a good atmosphere around the ground.
A final word from Nuno
Tottenham boss Nuno Espirito Santo, spoke to BT Sport about Vitesse before kick off saying:
Tonight we must compete. It is going to be tough game as Vitesse are a good team.
“We will focus now and try to pass on all the details of things that could happen in this game.”
Bergwijn returns to the Netherlands
Spurs’ Dutch winger Steven Bergwijn scored 31 goals in 149 senior appearances for PSV Eindhoven before moving to the Premier League side in January 2020. He won three Eredivisie titles with the club and spoke about his time in Holland.
He said:
When I played in Holland, Vitesse were always difficult to play, especially at their stadium.
"They like to play football and they always have good players. It’s not going to be an easy game but we are Tottenham so we need to win and I think we have enough quality."
Vitesse vs English opponents
Vitesse have played six games against English opposition but are yet to win a game. Their best result was a 0-0 draw in the second leg of the first round of the 1993-94 Uefa Cup against Norwich City. They lost the first leg 3-0 and were knocked out.
Liverpool beat them 1-0 in both legs of the 2002-03 Uefa Cup and most recently Southampton cruised to a 5-0 aggregate win in the third qualifying round of the 2015-16 Europa League.
Vitesse vs Tottenham
Vitesse have never played Tottenham in a competitive match but the clubs do have a connection.
Just one player has ever turned out for both clubs: Willem Korsten who played for Vitesse between 1993-1999, before moving to Tottenham Hotspur and playing there from 1999-2002.
Letsch on GelreDome atmosphere
Thomas Letsch has backed Vitesse’s fans to bring a bouncing atmosphere to the GelreDome tonight as a boost to his players as they prepare to face Tottenham.
He told Vitesse TV:
The atmosphere will be great again. The supporters will be behind us from the first minute, especially after the derby win [against NEC on Sunday].
!We want to generate the same energy as against Rennes, Feyenoord and NEC. In a full stadium, anything is possible.”
Nuno defends Tottenham selection policy for Europa Conference League
Tottenham Hotspur boss Nuno Espirito Santo does not think it is a risk to leave his big guns at home for the Europa Conference League trip to Vitesse Arnhem.
Nuno has confirmed that none of the outfield players who started last weekend’s 3-2 win at Newcastle will travel to Holland for Thursday night’s game, instead staying in London to train with Sunday’s trip to West Ham in mind.
Nuno defends Tottenham selection policy for Europa Conference League
Nuno has confirmed that none of the outfield players who started last weekend’s 3-2 win at Newcastle will travel to the Netherlands for Thursday night’s game
Record-breaking Vitesse
Vitesse are currently on a record-breaking run, having found the net in six consecutive European matches for the first time.
Their last 12 goals were scored by nine different players. Only Maximilian Wittek (three) and Matúš Bero (two) have scored more than once during this period.
Tonight’s venue: The GelreDome
Vitesse’s home ground is situated in Arnhem, a city east of Rotterdam and located in the South-Eastern part of the Netherlands.
Their stadium, the GelreDome, sold out for the first time in years for tonight’s confrontation with Tottenham and the regular capacity of 21,248 has been expanded to approximately 24,000.
Tottenham’s winning ways
Tottenham are unbeaten in three games across all competitions since a 3-0 defeat to North London rivals Arsenal in the Premier League back in September.
Over those three games Spurs have scored 10 goals and conceded just four. Last weekend they came from behind at St. James’ Park to defeat Newcastle 3-2 and have built up an air of confidence after a rocky start to the season.
Can they continue their winning run this evening?
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