They used to come here for a good pillage. A lovely place for the looting business, West Ham, a spot for padding the numbers and reinforcing old messages about those who give kickings and those who take them. But these are strange times and maybe they are changing times, too.
Because, really, this was a game for strengthening newer ideas. It was a game that built on the thought that West Ham have gone round a bend. That David Moyes has achieved a breakthrough across four unbeaten games against good and excellent sides, taking eight points from a stretch when a good few wagers would have them collecting none.