West Ham 1-0 Watford
by Paul Donovan 
at the London Stadium

A narrow win for West Ham over plucky Watford was overshadowed by accusations of animal cruelty levelled at home defender Kurt Zouma concerning his cat. 

A video of Zouma mistreating his cat emerged on social media, causing furore among fans and beyond. The incident was “unreservedly condemned” by West Ham, with Essex Police and the RSPCA now investigating the matter.  

 “I am very disappointed with what I saw. I am a big animal lover — this is something that will have upset a lot of people,” said Moyes, who explained that Zouma had apologised but recognised that “a lot of people won’t accept that.” 

Zouma certainly came under pressure throughout the game, with his every touch of the ball being greeted by boos — mainly from the Watford fans. 

On the footballing side, it was probably fortunate the defender was in the starting line-up, as West Ham seemed to pick up in the same daze in which they struggled to overcome Kidderminster in the FA Cup on Saturday. 

It took the home side half an hour to wake up, with a Jarrod Bowen corner being headed over by Tomas Soucek. 

The best effort of the half saw the outstanding Bowen go on a mazy run before feeding a through ball inside the area to Said Benrahma, who saw his first effort charged down by Watford keeper Ben Foster and the follow-up rocked back off the post. 

West Ham finally took the lead 23 minutes into the second half, when a Manuel Lanzini through ball found Bowen whose shot from just outside the area deflected off defender Samir, giving Foster no chance in the Watford goal. 

The pacy Josh King stretched West Ham down the left, cutting back a great ball for Tom Cleverley, but the midfielder fired over. 

Another effort saw Lukasz Fabianski at full stretch pushing his effort wide. Bowen was unlucky not to get a second in the last five minutes seeing Foster pushing his shot onto the post. 

Watford’s last effort saw a low cross from Joao Pedro skid across the goal mouth with no-one on hand to convert. 

Watford manager Roy Hodgson was pleased with the effort his players showed, though he felt confidence was the missing ingredient.

He said: “Confidence is never high when you are at the bottom … then that final ball lets you down.”

Moyes admitted that the performance wasn’t their strongest, and insisted improvement was necessary.

He said: “It was not great on Saturday either. Fortunately, we got two wins but have to play better.”