9 minutes: Shot! From leon Player – About 30 yards away, immediately blocked. But they are preparing, playing their first cross, having been hit from the left, West Ham defended well.
8 minutes: Do you know how some matches kicked off at a resounding pace? This is not one of them.
7 minutes: leon He brought it inside the penalty area, with Dembele holding the ball well, Lukaku style, but the final ball is weak again.
5 minutes: Gusto, the quick right winger at Lyon, had plenty of time to get a cross, but he passed it.
3 minutes: leon Being leisurely, West Ham more direct. Antonio rides his head in a bet from Areola but doesn’t find Bowen with his flick.
1 minute: leon Get the party started with some neat little passes.
Declan Rice fists leon Captain – Moussa Dembele. Rice needs to avoid yellow if he wants to play in the second leg.
West Ham have won their last four home games in all competitions, their best streak in ten years. But then Lyon won their last six away matches in European League. Something we have to give.
The crowd absolutely loves it. The London Stadium is swaying because it hasn’t shaken since the Rolling Stones played there a few years ago.
Bubbles are blown. He sang.
David Moyes speaks to BT, apparently calm. “It’s a slightly different game, it’s the first leg,” he says. “We would like to win, but it is not decided tonight.”
He says he chose Ryan Fredericks (over Ben Johnson) in part because of Karl Toko Ekambi’s pace – who, he doesn’t add, is off the bench.
Team: Lyon hasn’t changed
Leon (4-2-3-1?): Lopez. Gusto, Boateng; Lukipa, Emerson; Mendes, Ndombele; Pfeiffer, Paquita, Awar; Dembele.
Subs: Pollersbeck, Da Silva, Denayer, Barcola, Henrique, Dubois, Reine-Adelaide, Barcola, Kadewere, Tete, Toko-Ekambi.
Teams: West Ham as expected
West Ham United (4-2-3-1): Areola. Fredericks, Dawson; Zuma, Cresswell; Soucek rice; Bowen, Ben Rahma, Fornals; Antonio.
Subs: Fabiansky, Johnson, Koval, Masuaku, Diop, Alize, Noble, Kral, Perkins, Randolph, Vlasic, Yarmolenko.
Preamble
Evening everyone and welcome to the biggest European match since then… Well, it worked out in 1981. This match didn’t go well: after breaking into the Cup Winners’ Cup quarter-final, they went and lost 4-1 at home to Dinamo Tbilisi. But it was then, long ago that one of their regulars was Frank Lampard (Big). And that’s now, when they saw Seville, who owns greatly European League.
Manchester United, eat your heart out. David Moyes doesn’t just look at Manchester United in the league table: he’s still in Europe and they aren’t. But he won’t allow himself too much schadenfreude as his team faces a tough task here. At 538.com, Nate Silver’s prediction machine, West Ham would prefer to overtake this round, but only 55 percent to 45.
Leon watched in his group, winning five matches and losing nothing. The last time they came to the UK, in September, they beat the mighty Rangers. They are not regulars in Ligue 1, where they are ninth, but they are effective in Europe: in the last round, against Porto, they won 1-0 away before they tied 1-1 at home. It could be the loudest night at the London Stadium since the win over Sevilla.
Kick-off is at 8pm, so I’ll be back shortly after 7 with the teams.
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