HAZARD’S AMAZING SLALOM GOAL
LIVERPOOL .......... 1 CHELSEA ............. 2 WEST HAM ........... 8 MACCLESFIELD...0 ARSENAL ............. 3 BRENTFORD ......... 1 TOTTENHAM ........ 2 WATFORD ........... 2 SPURS WIN 4-2 ON PENALTIES
WEST HAM will not enjoy an easier evening at the London Stadium as Manuel Pellegrini’s Premier League players punished Football League basement boys Macclesfield.
The last time the Hammers won 8-0 was in October 1968 against Sunderland in Division One, when Sir Geoff Hurst helped himself to six goals at the Boleyn Ground.
Academy kid Grady Diangana stole the headlines in Stratford last night, with the 20-year-old marking his debut for the club by scoring their seventh and eighth.
Robert Snodgrass was among those to grab his first goal for West Ham, while Lucas Perez, Michail Antonio, Ryan Fredericks and Angelo Ogbonna also got in on the act.
This competition was the first and last that Manuel Pellegrini won with Manchester City. His priority is the Premier League, though the Chilean sees the Carabao Cup as a realistic chance of silverware.
Pellegrini’s players ran circles around the visitors, who are bottom of League Two and winless this season. As the away supporters, who made a seven-hour round trip to be in Stratford last night, sang: ‘You’re nothing special, we lose every week.’ Sometimes, if you don’t laugh, you cry.
West Ham held the joint-record for the biggest win in this competition — a 10-0 victory over Bury in 1983. For Macclesfield’s sake, it is a good job Pellegrini rested a few of his familiar faces.
Within 10 minutes, the home side were forced into a change with the injured Carlos Sanchez replaced by Declan Rice, the gifted youngster caught up in a contract saga.
West Ham got the rout going in the 29th minute when a delicate cross by Rice was met by the head of Antonio.
The Hammers’ second goal was as sloppy as they come. Diangana forced a save out of Kieran O’Hara then, amid a melee to clear the danger, Snodgrass tapped in.
Snodgrass, who joined West Ham in January 2017 for £10.2million, and was once tipped to become Dimitri Payet’s successor, finally had his first goal for the club. It was 3-0 before halftime after Perez volleyed the ball beyond O’Hara. Fredericks made it 4-0 by thumping the ball into the top corner from a tight angle, scoring the best goal of the night. Shortly afterwards, Ogbonna headed home from a corner to make it five. Snodgrass scored his second after a passing move, slotting the ball beneath O’Hara. Then Diangana drifted through Macclesfield’s back line and scored. The 20-year-old academy product ran to the corner, soaking
in the celebrations. The youngster’s night was not over. He made it 8-0, beating the offside trap before sliding the ball into the bottom corner.
WEST HAM, (4-3-3): Adrian 7; Fredericks 7.5, Ogbonna 7, Diop 7, Cresswell 7; Sanchez 6.5 (Rice 9mins, 8), Obiang 7 (Coventry 45, 6.5), Snodgrass 8.5; DIANGANA 9, Antonio 8 (Powell 61, 6.5), Perez 8. Subs not used: Fabianski, Balbuena, Yarmolenko, Masuaku. Scorers: Antonio 29, Snodgrass 32, 60, Perez 39, Fredericks 51, Ogbonna 54, Diangana 67, 82. Manager: Manuel Pellegrini 8. MACCLESFIELD (4-4-2) O’Hara 2.5; Pearson 2.5, Kelleher 2.5, Grimes 2.5, Fitzpatrick 3; Maycock 3, Lowe 3 (Welsh-Hayes 68, 5), Whitaker, Napa 3 (Arthur 58, 4.5); Smith 3 (Blissett 58, 4.5), Marsh 3. Subs not used: Hodgkiss, Wilson, Vincenti, Simpson. Manager: Mark Yates 2.5. Referee: Craig Pawson 6. Attendance: 24,833.