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.
Frederiksen on Spurs
Vitesse striker Nikolai Baden Frederiksen is looking forward to facing Tottenham tonight and hopes his team can somehow get a result against the former Champions League finalists. He told Vitesse TV:
We were happy when we reached the group stage. Now we are playing the Champions League finalists from two years ago.
“We know who they are and have respect for them, but we also want to get a result. It is up to us to find the solutions and the space, and to keep the defence tight.”
‘A good opportunity'
Despite all the changes Tottenham’s starting XI is fairly strong. Excluding Dane Scarlett and Pierluigi Gollini most of the starting XI have made regular appearances in the Premier League and Nuno Espirito Santo spoke in the build-up about some of them taking this chance to find some form.
He picked out Steven Bergwijn by name saying: "This is a good opportunity for him to get sharper and stronger, we will need him in the future."
Team changes: Vitesse vs Tottenham
Thomas Letsch makes one change to his Vitesse team that started against Rennes last time out on the Europa Conference League as Yann Gboho drops out and is replaced in the forward line by Oussama Darfalou.
Nuno Espirito Santo changes his entire team from the weekend. There are six returning players that featured in the last ECL match against Mura with Pierluigi Gollini returning in goal and a front four of Bryan Gil, Dele Alli, Steven Bergwijn and Dane Scarlett.
Line-ups: Vitesse vs Tottenham
Vitesse XI: Schubert; Doekhi, Bazoer, Rasmussen; Dasa, Bero, Tronstad, Wittek; Baden Frederiksen, Darfalou, Openda
Tottenham XI: Gollini; Tanganga, Sanchez, Rodon, B. Davies; Lo Celso, Winks; Bryan Gil, Alli, Bergwijn; Scarlett
Lots of changes from Nuno
Tottenham boss, Nuno Espirito Santo, has left all of the outfield players who started in Sunday’s 3-2 win at Newcastle at home and they won’t be playing a part in tonight’s game.
When asked if he was taking a gamble, Nuno replied: "No. It’s not about that. It’s about trying to analyse and see what is better for us in terms of our process during the week and for the future."
Meanwhile Vitesse manager, Thomas Letsch, doesn’t see any advantage in playing against a team missing many of its big names, according to De Gelderlander.
"Spurs have 25 top players to choose from," he said. "I see no advantage at all in coming up against their so-called second string. The players who we face tonight will be eager to prove themselves. They want to get into the normal starting XI."
Tottenham’s campaign so far
Tonight’s match against Vitesse is Tottenham’s third fixture of the campaign so far this season. They faced Rennes away from home on Matchday 1 and secured a point after Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg found the back of the net to equalise in the 76th minute. The game finished 2-2.
Things were easier for Spurs in their next match against Mura. They were two goals up inside of 10 minutes before Ziga Kous scored just after half-time to set up a potentially nervous finish. It wasn’t the case though as Harry Kane came off the bench to score a hat-trick in just 19 minutes and ease Tottenham to a 5-1 victory.
Another win tonight and Spurs will be well set to qualify for the knockout stages.
What is the Europa Conference League?
The Europa Conference League is an opportunity for more teams around Europe to play one another.
It is essentially a third-tier European Competition, behind the Champions League and Europa League, which follows the existing formats of those competitions.
It begins with a group stage, which is followed by two-legged knockout rounds and a single-legged final.
Teams can qualify for the Europa Conference League through a number of different routes. In England, the Carabao Cup winners qualify, but Tottenham earned their spot in the competition as the highest finishers in the Premier League who didn’t already have a place in the Champions League or Europa League.
The eight groups contain four teams each, and no side can play another club from their country in the first round.
To progress to the first knockout rounds of the Europa Conference League – the last 16 – a team must finish top of their group, or finish second and then win a play-off tie against a side that finished third in their Europa League pool.
Tottenham currently sit top of Group G with four points but could slip as low as third if they lose to Vitesse this evening.
Tottenham travel to Vitesse in Europa Conference League
Welcome to The Independent’s live coverage as Tottenham travel to Vitesse in the Europa Conference League.
Nuno Espirito Santo has pledged to field an entirely different outfield eleven tonight, with the players who started against Newcastle last weekend not making the trip to Holland.
Spurs are currently joint top of Group G on four points after two matches and need to win the group in order to avoid a playoff to reach the knockout stages.
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