New Delhi: Gram Potter era at West Ham got off to a disappointing and controversial start when Aston Villa came from behind to beat Hammers 2-1 and knock them out of the FA Cup on Saturday morning. The Hammers hired Potter on Thursday after they sacked Julen Lopetegui just six months into his tenure.
The ex-Chelsea manager could not secure a victory upon his return as the Hammers squandered their first-half advantage provided by Lucas Paqueta in the ninth minute.
Lucas Paquetá with the first goal of the Graham Potter era for @WestHam ⚒️#EmiratesFACup pic.twitter.com/KlTX0kNKiv
— Emirates FA Cup (@EmiratesFACup) January 10, 2025
The second half witnessed the drama at Villa Park as Unai Emery’s men fought back, exposing West Ham’s defensive flaws. With 19 minutes remaining in the game, Amadou Onana equalised the scoreline. Morgan Rogers scored the winning goal as the Villans were given a corner in the 75th minute after an Onana shot flew wide, leading to Rogers scoring the winning goal. After the ball was cleared, Ollie Watkins sent it back into the box for Rogers to fire home to victory.
VAR clearly showed that Onana’s shot didn’t hit a West Ham player and should have been a goal kick. Potter, who was back in the business after two years, was left holding his head in frustration.
Watkins 🤝 Rogers@AVFCOfficial have turned it around! 🤯#EmiratesFACup pic.twitter.com/Rkt1ceGwrt
— Emirates FA Cup (@EmiratesFACup) January 10, 2025
Potter’s tenure at Chelsea lasted less than seven months, during which he lost 11 of his 31 matches and fell to 11th in the league despite a hefty £288 million transfer investment in a single window. The former Brighton manager is striving to learn from this setback and has committed to ‘coming back stronger’ after an experience that may have cost him the England coaching role taken by Thomas Tuchel.
The ex-Chelsea manager had just one training session with the Hammers before facing Villa and had to manage without key players like Jarrod Bowen and Michail Antonio. However, after seven consecutive FA Cup third-round exits (2016-2023), the Villans’ win tonight secured them back-to-back fourth-round appearances for the first time since 2015.
In another fixture, third-tier Wycombe Wanderers scored twice in the first half to secure their berth in the fourth round. Wycombe beat second-division Portsmouth 2-0 and are second among sides in England’s top four tiers this season, having won 22 games, just one less than Liverpool.
📺 The key moments from our third round victory! pic.twitter.com/11bqPx1vAe
— Wycombe Wanderers (@wwfcofficial) January 11, 2025
Wycombe have managed to progress from the FA Cup third round on three of the last four occasions and have cleared the fourth round just once in their history, aiming to change that this time.
Despite leading for 70 minutes, West Ham ultimately lose 2-1 to Aston Villa while Wycombe advance in the FA Cup with a 2-0 win over Portsmouth. Football Sports News: Latest Cricket News, Cricket Live Score, Sports Breaking News from Sports Today
