West Ham and David Moyes must seize moment against Fiorentina

T he story goes back to Andriy Yarmolenko cutting in from the right flank to give West Ham a last-minute win over Chelsea at the start of July 2020. David Moyes remembers it as a turning point; the moment everything started to come together. The Ukraine winger’s goal acted as a catalyst, pulling West Ham away from danger during Project Restart, giving them the belief to beat relegation and shed the discord that had threatened to swallow them whole.

Before long they were fighting back from 3-0 down against Tottenham, rescuing a point thanks to a stoppage-time thunderbolt from Manuel Lanzini. Once so flaky, West Ham discovered resilience. They were punchy during the 2020-21 campaign, defying expectations by finishing sixth and qualifying for Europe. They upset big teams and made the London Stadium feel like home.

It has been emotional. West Ham have been massive, to paraphrase the chant that will fill the Eden Arena in Prague tonight, and who could have seen that coming when Moyes returned to the club for a second spell in December 2019? “I’ve been here three years,” Jarrod Bowen said, speaking before West Ham face Fiorentina in the final of the Europa Conference League tonight. “If you’d told me we’d be in a European final I’d have bitten your hand off.”

Of course, it has not been all plain sailing. Full of confidence after knocking Sevilla and Lyon out of the Europa League last season, West Ham were crushed when they lost their semi-final to Eintracht Frankfurt. They qualified for the Conference League after finishing seventh, but their league form tailed off.

This season has been tough. Moyes spent almost £160m last summer and tried to refine the team’s style but it backfired. The league campaign became a slog. West