1. Top of the Christmas tree!
West Ham United’s 2-1 victory over SC Freiburg saw the Irons top UEFA Europa League Group A ahead of their German opponents.
In the process, the Irons became the sixth different English club to win a European group stage group three seasons in a row after Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool, Manchester City and Manchester United.
Victory takes the Hammers through directly to the round of 16 in March next year, and spares David Moyes’ side the bother of playing in the knockout round play-off against a UEFA Champions League side in February.
West Ham have now won ten home European ties in succession, too, and lost just one of the previous 21 games dating back to the start of last season’s UEFA Europa Conference League campaign.
2. El Machin in top gear
Yet another former Ajax player is on the scoresheet!
— Football on TNT Sports (@footballontnt) December 14, 2023
Edson Alvarez extends West Ham's lead to 2-0 over Freiburg through a wonderfully worked goal 👏👏 pic.twitter.com/9kNyVTPjQ0
Prior to Thursday’s tie, Edson Álvarez had scored three goals and assisted three more in 36 career European appearances for Ajax.
Against SC Freiburg, the Mexico midfielder did both, setting up his former Ajax teammate Mohammed Kudus to put the Hammers in front, before scoring an outstanding second himself.
Factor in El Machin’s strong defensive contribution to a welcome clean sheet and this was a night to remember for West Ham’s No19 – a night the player himself labelled ‘special and magic’.
3. Mo’ goals
The run and the dummy 😮💨
— Football on TNT Sports (@footballontnt) December 14, 2023
Mohammed Kudus bags his 7th goal of the season across all competitions 👏 pic.twitter.com/hTGe7XJtx4
The Ghana star made it ten goals in 22 UEFA competition matches with his strike against SC Freiburg.
Kudus has now found the net five times in Europe this term, having netted a hat-trick in Ajax’s UEFA Europa League play-off round win over Bulgarian side Ludogorets in the week prior to joining the Hammers in August, before opening his account in Claret and Blue at home to FK TSC on matchday one in September.
The No14 has now scored in four different competitions this season – the Premier League, Europa League, EFL Cup and Dutch Eredivisie – and netted eleven goals in 23 appearances for club and country.
4. A Fab performance
Łukasz Fabiański has been thrust into regular action again in recent weeks after Alphonse Areola suffered a wrist injury in training, and the Pole was at his best in Thursday’s win over SC Freiburg.
The 38-year-old showed all his experience to keep a clean sheet against the German visitors, showing sure hands to hold onto dangerous efforts from Roland Sallai and Merlin Röhl, before plunging to his right to push a dangerous effort from Doan aside.
Fabiański also caught the eye by performing a reverse headspring to get back to his feet after saving from the Japan international winger, earning rave reviews for his gymnastics on social media.
