West Ham United are set to play host to Bournemouth in the Carabao Cup on Wednesday night.
The Carabao Cup represents a good chance for West Ham to win a trophy this season, with no European football on the agenda.
Julen Lopetegui is busy trying to get one or two more transfer over the line right now, but securing a win against Bournemouth will undoubtedly be the Hammers head coach‘s main priority.
There are a lot of things to be excited about at the club right now, and a good cup run would certainly add to the feel-good feeling emanating from the London Stadium.
Bournemouth are a proper team, so beating them certainly won’t be easy.
And now it seems like the Hammers really will have our work cut out, if we are to progress through to the next round of the Carabao Cup.
West Ham fans will be livid after Bournemouth Carabao Cup announcement
There is much excitement at the London Stadium right now after an excellent summer transfer window, and the win against crystal Palace last weekend.
Things are really starting to look up for West Ham in general.
However, some news has broken regarding our cup tie with Bournemouth tomorrow night, and it’s not good.
Peter Bankes has been named as the referee for our Carabao Cup clash with the Cherries on Wednesday night, as confirmed via the club’s official website.
Bankes is well known to Hammers fans because of some really poor decisions that he has made whilst refereeing our games.
The English ref has had plenty of history with the Hammers, and most recently took charge of one of our games in October 2023 during our 2-2 draw with Newcastle – a result that could have been very different had he performed to what would be considered a decent standard.
Bankes refused to hand Bruno Guimaraes a second yellow card after he tripped Jarrod Bowen in transition. He also failed to book Jamaal Lascelles for elbowing Lucas Paqueta in the head.
Then, the 42-year-old amazingly didn’t hand Miguel Almiron a yellow after he gestured for him to hand a Hammers player a booking – an offence that Emerson Palmieri committed earlier on in the match and was punished for with a yellow!
That was all inside the first-half! Then during the second period, Bankes awarded a free-kick to Newcastle after Paqueta fairly dispossessed Sandro Tonali. The Magpies then went on to score from that set play.
He was in charge during our 2-1 loss to Brentford during the 2021/22 season and put in one of the worst performances ever witnessed by a referee at the London Stadium.
Bankes also incorrectly awarded Tottenham a penalty during our 1-1 draw at the London Stadium during the 2022/23 season, only for it to be overturned by VAR.
The 42-year-old officiated our draw with Southampton at St Mary’s in the same season, when we were hit with an FA charge following the game, after the players surrounded the referee. This came after Bankes pathetically blocked Jarrod Bowen from intercepting a Southampton player immediately before they scored.
In addition to all of that, Bankes was on VAR duty when Anthony Taylor awarded Arsenal a ridiculously weak penalty at the Emirates two seasons ago, after Vladimir Coufal actually won the ball.
The Premier League referee was on VAR when Fabian Balbuena was handed a ludicrous red card during our home match against Chelsea a few years ago – one of the worst decisions I have ever seen in my life.
Peter Bankes West Ham record
The 42-year-old has taken charge of 10 of our games and surprise, surprise…we’ve won only three of them (Transfermarkt).
During those games, he’s handed out 18 yellow cards to West Ham players, but no red cards.
He is one of my least favourite referees in the sense that he rarely gets to grips with games, and usually makes a rod for his own back by making poor decisions early on.
David Moyes was hugely critical of him last season after our 2-2 draw with Newcastle at the London Stadium (The Independent).
Let’s hope that Julen Lopetegui doesn’t have cause to complain about Bankes after the West Ham vs Bournemouth Carabao Cup clash tomorrow night.
As long as nobody is talking about the 42-year-old after the game, then I’ll be happy.
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