Fabianski

Fredericks

KURT ZOUMA

Diop

Cresswell

Rice (Noble)

Soucek

Lanzini (Benrahma)

Vlasic (Bowen)

Fornals (Masuaku)

Antonio (Yarmolenko)

Goals from Michail Antonio and Declan Rice gave West Ham United the perfect start to their UEFA Europa League campaign at Dinamo Zagreb. The Hammers claimed the points with a strike in each half, as Antonio took advantage of an error from home defender Kévin Théophile-Catherine to open the scoring, before Declan Rice’s solo run made the second.
West Ham were well in control for much of the contest, quelling Dinamo’s threat as they searched for a route back into the contest in the second period and a second straight clean sheet ensured the three points would be theirs. West Ham may be relative novices when it comes to European competition – this was their first tie, excluding qualifiers, since 2006 – but they began the game in composed fashion. Indeed, they got on the ball early and forced four corners before the game was even ten minutes old.
Their reward came in the shape of a gift-wrapped goal in the 21st minute. Former Cardiff City defender Théophile-Catherine will not want to watch it again, as his back pass was left too short for goalkeeper Dominik Livaković, allowing Antonio to nip in, beat him to the ball and poke into the unguarded net.

Dinamo responded strongly at the start of the second half and Bruno Petković gave the Hammers a 47th minute scare when he shot wide of the left-hand post from the edge of the box.
It was only a momentary scare, though, as Rice doubled the lead just three minutes later. It was a goal all of the captain’s making, too, as he made an interception on halfway, showed strength to hold off the challenge and simply take off. Nobody could catch him as the No41 strode clear in the left hand channel and he ended the run by slipping the ball through Livaković’s legs to make it 2-0. The perfect way to make his 150th appearance in Claret & Blue.

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Dinamo Zagreb:

Livaković, Šutalo, Théophile-Catherine (Jurić), Lauritsen, Ristovski (Moharrami), Ademi, Mišić (Tolić), Franjić, Ivanušec (Menalo), Oršić (Gojak), Petković