West Ham v Leeds: FA Cup third round – live! | Football

42 mins: Antonio is still down, receiving treatment to his right ankle.

41 mins: Johnson’s low cross runs to Antonio, who shoots wide on the slide from beyond the far post – and then stays down!

40 mins: In other news, Liverpool have now equalised against Shrewsbury.

38 mins: Very nice move from West Ham, after Firpo gives the ball to Bowen on the edge of the home penalty area, but it ends with a Fredericks pull-back to a white shirt.

36 mins: VAR is having to examine replays from every angle, and it turns out that though Bowen was running right in front of Meslier when it happened, he actually never took a shot or even touched the ball – it was Vlasic having another go. The idea that he wasn’t influencing play seems pretty outlandish, but the goal stands!

Vlasic turns Hjelde and runs into the area. Hjelde blocks his shot but the ball breaks to Bowen, whose shot is blocked but the ball breaks to Lanzini, who thumps it in! But was Bowen offside when Vlasic last touched the ball?

32 mins: Cup shock update:

31 mins: A chance for Leeds! They attack down the right, Greenwood crosses to James and it comes off a defender and drops to Lewis Bate, who swings his left foot and completely mishits!

27 mins: The home crowd, who might have expected an easy afternoon after seeing the team sheets, briefly falls quiet, prompting inevitable “is this a library?” songs from the away end.

24 mins: The ball definitely hit Hjelde’s left arm, which was already slightly raised. Is it OK because the arm was already raised, or not OK because the reason it was raised was so Hjelde could grab Dawson’s shirt?

23 mins: West Ham toss a free kick into the penalty area, where Craig Dawson battles for it and then abruptly stops, in favour of asking the referee for a handball-related penalty. The referee doesn’t spy anything awry, and neither does the VAR.

20 mins: Now Greenwood tries his luck. He doesn’t have any, and the ball balloons off his left foot and into the stands from 25 yards.

18 mins: Bate curls a left-footer straight at Areola, who catches. Still, it’s a shot on target.

15 mins: Leeds push forwards now, but after James takes the ball to the byline only Greenwood is in the area, nobody else is offering a passing option, and nothing comes of the cross.

13 mins: Close! West Ham push again, and from the edge of the area Antonio’s shot flicks off Llorente’s shin and loops onto the roof of the net.

10 mins: Off the line! Declan Rice goes rampaging down the left wing, just keeps the ball in play and crosses towards Antonio. Koch wins the ball but knocks it down to Bowen, whose first-time shot beats Meslier but is booted away by Ayling!

7 mins: Quite a low-paced opening as the two teams test each other out. Leeds, for all their changes, their debutants and understudies, have started well enough.

5 mins: The day’s first shot comes from Bowen, who flashes a left-footer wide from 30 yards or so.

2 mins: Two crossfield balls to Firpo so far. One from Llorente as Leeds tried to play out of defence was excellent, the second from Harrison as they tried to create a shooting chance was not.

1 min: Peeeeep! Leeds have kicked off!

The players are out, and Leeds are about to kick off!

Here’s a first sighting of the Leeds debutant Lewis Bate. On his phone, obviously. Bah, the youth of today, etc and so forth.

David Moyes has a chat with ITV. He’s still miffed about the rescheduled Norwich game – “I don’t think it’s right that our game’s been put midweek but it has been, and we have to get on with it” – but otherwise seems pretty chipper:

It shows how important I think it is to play well against Leeds, because they’re a good team. We want to get through in the Cup but we want to try to do well in the Premier League as well. Everybody would [want to make the final], but I’m guessing all the reporters are asking managers the same question. It’s a long journey, hard games. Today we’ve got a tough game and we have to concentrate on that before we start thinking about finals.

West Ham’s starting XI is perhaps surprisingly strong, while Leeds pick Sam Greenwood, Leo Hjelde and Lewis Bate, three teenagers who have not started a single league game this season between them, as well as Robin Koch, who has made three league appearances, but have strength on the bench.

Team sheets have been handed in, and here they are:

West Ham: Areola, Fredericks, Dawson, Diop, Johnson, Rice, Soucek, Bowen, Lanzini, Vlasic, Antonio. Subs: Yarmolenko, Fornals, Noble, Masuaku, Kral, Randolph, Okoflex, Alese, Baptiste.
Leeds: Meslier, Ayling, Llorente, Hjelde, Firpo, Bate, Koch, James, Klich, Harrison, Greenwood. Subs: Forshaw, Raphinha, Klaesson, Dallas, Drameh, Summerville, McCarron, Jenkins, Moore.
Referee: Stuart Attwell.

Hello world!

It’s FA Cup third round weekend, a time to revel in fixtures we

don’t usually get to see
will be able to see again very soon! West Ham v Leeds is on TV twice in a week, with the Hammers’ home Premier League clash against these very same opponents due to kick off precisely seven days after this cup-themed version. Of the two matches, this is the one they’ll be taking a bit less seriously. It’s hard not to conclude that the TV cameras could have been better deployed elsewhere, but these are two well-supported clubs who will guarantee decent viewing figures, so this is where we are.

Marcelo Bielsa goes into his fourth tilt at the FA Cup having never won a single match in the competition, which is a bit bobbins. And with a lengthy injury list to deal with, his chances of improving on that record don’t seem very good. “We always try to win in every official game we have,” Bielsa promised. “There is never a need for added motivation. Every time that the group plays, the desire is always the maximum to win. Every competition is a possibility and we take it in that way. Every game we focus on it with the intention to win it. We’re going to try that the characteristics of our play are expressed and that will allow us to beat them.”

I’ve read the last sentence a dozen times and still have no idea what’s going on.

West Ham will also rejig their line-up, what with having to squeeze a rearranged league game against Norwich between the two Leeds matches and everything. “I’m not really sure yet exactly which way we want to go,” David Moyes said of his team selection for this game. “I think because the Premier League have put the game on Wednesday night, that’s changed the whole dynamics of this FA Cup tie.”

Anyway, we hope for the best, eh? Welcome!