David Moyes revealed how he was inspired by Diego Simeone ahead of West Ham's victory over Arsenal.
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West Ham kept things tight at the back
Walked away with a 2-0 victory
Moyes took inspiration from Simeone's criticism of Premier League defending
WHAT HAPPENED?
The veteran manager celebrated a "brilliant defensive job" after his team secured a surprising 2-0 victory against Arsenal at the Emirates. Despite Arsenal's 31 shots, West Ham's resilient defensive display ensured that they walked with a clean sheet with Tomas Soucek and Konstantinos Mavropanos scoring at the other end to seal the victory.
Moyes revealed that he drew inspiration from Atletico Madrid boss Simeone's recent criticism of Premier League defences after the Argentine claimed that "nobody is defending" in the English top-flight.
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WHAT MOYES SAID
Speaking to reporters, Moyes said: "I thought we defended really, really well. I don’t know if you saw [Atletico Madrid manager] Diego Simeone’s comments about a month ago, talking about Premier League defending. He thought there were too many 4-3s and 5-4s. I thought it was right. Everybody wants the goals but there’s another part to football and it is to be really good defensively, be hard to beat. I think we showed that tonight.”
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THE BIGGER PICTURE
It was indeed a defensive masterclass from Mavropanos and Angelo Ogbonna as they kept things tight at the back. Not only the two centre-backs, but Lucas Paqueta, Soucek, Edson Alvarez, James Ward-Prowse and Mohamed Kudus all left their bodies on the line to stop Bukayo Saka and Co from finding the back of the net.
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West Ham are currently on a three-match winning streak in the Premier League and will look to start their new year on the same note when they take on Brighton on January 2.