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.
Group G standings
That defeat drops Spurs down to third in Group G after Rennes defeated Mura 2-1. The French side are first with seven points, Vitesse have six and Tottenham three.
There’s still three games to go in the group stages so Spurs have time to pull it back but they’ll need to play a whole lot better than they did tonight.
Full-time: Vitesse 1 - 0 Tottenham
90+4 mins: There goes the final whistle. Vitesse beat Tottenham in the Europa Conference League. The Vitesse fans go wild in the GelreDome. This is the first time this team has beaten an English opponent.
Vitesse 1 - 0 Tottenham
90+2 mins: Dele Alli flicks a ball into the area for Markanday but Schubert gets to the ball first, grabs hold and falls on top of it. He ekes out a few vital seconds for Vitesse as they look to hold on to this lead.
Vitesse 1 - 0 Tottenham
90 mins: Four minutes of added time to play. It’s not going to be enough for Tottenham. They could play an extra 45 minutes and I don’t think they’d score an equaliser. It’s been a poor performance from Nuno’s men this evening.
Vitesse 1 - 0 Tottenham
87 mins: Vitesse’s hero Maximilian Wittek gets a standing ovation as he’s replaced with Tomas Hajek. Wittek has four goals in European competition this season and has probably given the Dutch side a vital three points.
Vitesse 1 - 0 Tottenham
84 mins: Vitesse break on the counter-attack with Frederiksen bringing the ball through the middle. Openda and Darfalou give him options to the left and right but Frederiksen goes it alone and belts a shot from range well over the crossbar.
Bazoer and Winks get into a bit of argy bargy off the ball and the referee has to come over to put a stop to it.
Vitesse 1 - 0 Tottenham
81 mins: That goal could be crucial. Vitesse weathered a flurry from Tottenham at the beginning of this half but have grown in confidence since. Of the two teams they’ve been the one that has looked more likely to score. Their fans are cheering and singing very loudly now. They believe their team is going to win this one.
GOAL! Vitesse 1 - 0 Tottenham (Wittek, 78’)⚽️
78 mins: Finally! The deadlock is broken! Wittek sends the ball up to Openda and continues his run into the box. Openda flicks it over to the right wing where Dasa makes a forward run. He brings the ball under control before chipping it to the front edge of the box where Wittek has drifted into space. He hits the dropping ball on the volley and smokes it wonderfully into the near bottom corner to give Vitesse the lead!
Vitesse 0 - 0 Tottenham
77 mins: Nuno Espirito Santo takes no chances on Dane Scarlett and replaces him with 20-year-old Dilan Markanday.
Vitesse 0 - 0 Tottenham
75 mins: Yellow card for Scarlett! A long ball comes up to the striker who knocks it past Bazoer. He turns quickly and chases after the ball as Schubert comes flying out of his box. The Vitesse goalkeeper gets to the ball as Scarlett dives into a challenge. Schubert jumps over the striker’s legs and theatrically throws himself to ground convincing the referee to pull out a card.
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