West Ham 1 : 2 Eintracht Frankfurt

It ain’t over til it’s over as Yogi Berra once famously said. West Ham’s hopes of a Champions League place by dint of a top four finish may have come to an end with a home defeat by local rivals Arsenal.

However, their Europa League hopes are very much alive despite a 1-2 loss at home to Eintracht Frankfurt. The Hesse side were very good but not unbeatable. Filip Kostic was their star man and his skilful control of Eintracht’s progress down the left wing gave Ben Johnson as difficult a test as he is likely to see all season.

Japanese international Daichi Kamada was an able assistant but it was one of the less heralded individuals, Ansgar Knauff who stamped or rather headed his imprint on the game with Frankfurt’s opener after just 52 seconds. Kamada was however to remerge as both the scorer of Eintracht’s winning goal as well as the player most like to score a third or a fourth.

For a while the London side were wobbly but their guests were not quite clinical enough to take advantage and their more measured approach did work for them over the length of the 90 minutes. West Ham began to overcome any inferiority complex and matched their opposition.

When the equaliser came, it was well earned. Kurt Zouma won a magnificent aerial header and found Michail Antonio whose prompt reaction meant he had little to do but finish.

Like the hosts, the visitors did not panic at conceding a goal and the game then found an equilibrium. The quality passing was coming from Eintracht but West Ham’s attacks were more incisive however they found the less heralded, probably because he plays his international football for Austria rather than Germany, Martin Hinteregger in majestic form.

The German club has only won once in five attempts at Waldstadion in this tournament but the other four have been draws. West Ham have the talent to go one better but their second home defeat in four days suggests they may have run out of steam

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