Tevez dominates Eastenders' plot

Robert Green declared after West Ham’s March defeat to Tottenham that he and his team-mates “deserved to be shot” if they slid out of the Barclays Premiership without a fight.

The Hammers looked down and out after a demoralising 4-3 defeat to their London neighbours, having led 3-2 with five minutes remaining.

Without a win in 2007 and rooted to the bottom on 20 points with just nine games remaining, even the most optimistic of fans would have struggled to predict such a dramatic turnaround in the club’s fortunes.

However, Alan Curbishley’s side have more than answered their goalkeeper’s criticisms after their victory at Old Trafford completed one of the most extraordinary comebacks ever seen in English football.

For Curbishley it will be regarded as his greatest achievement in more than a decade of management.

After taking over the reigns from Alan Pardew in December, the 49-year-old seemed to have made an instant impact, winning his first game in charge - ironically also against Manchester United – to end a run of three straight defeats.

But the win was to prove a false start as the mammoth task facing Curbishley soon became apparent.

The arrival of established names – financed by new chairman Eggert Magnusson - such as Luis Boa Morte, Lucas Neill and Matthew Upson for in excess of £12million was not enough to stop the rot as the unhappy Hammers embarked on a miserable 11-game winless run spanning three months.

The former Charlton boss admitted his shock at the ’Baby Bentley’ culture existing within the club and was forced to field questions over the futures of his Argentinian pair Javier Mascherano and Carlos Tevez.

Midfielder Mascherano agreed to join Liverpool on January 31 but the transfer alerted the Premier League to irregularities in the pair’s contracts and soon they were charged.

But while West Ham’s problems off the field began to mount suddenly they began to look more convincing on it, with Tevez instrumental in the turnaround - scoring six goals in the final nine games of the season.

He and Bobby Zamora began to strike up an understanding as the Hammers reeled off three successive victories.

The first of them, at Blackburn, owed much to a huge slice of luck.

Rovers led until Tevez fell under a challenge from Brett Emerton to win a debatable penalty which the Argentina international converted.

However, more controversy was to follow as Bobby Zamora’s close-range strike hit the offside Argentina striker on the goal line – only for the assistant referee to wrongly rule it had gone over.

Two defeats in four days to Sheffield United and Chelsea undid much of the optimism but – despite all the speculation surrounding him – Tevez managed to rise above the rows and inspire his side to victory over Everton.

Yet despite being at the forefront of the fightback, ironically it was the Argentinian who could have ultimately caused their demise as the Hammers nervously awaited the verdict on his contract irregularities.

The points ban feared, however, did not materialise, with the Hammers instead handed a £5.5million believed to be relating to third-party ownership.

A mass outcry from their relegation rivals swiftly followed with Sheffield United, Charlton, Fulham and Wigan all threatening legal action against the Premier League.

Of course, it had to be Tevez who destroyed the Latics a day later, scoring twice in the 3-0 win which sent them into the drop zone and led to furious chairman Dave Whelan writing to the Premier League requesting “concrete evidence” he was eligible to play.

Tevez’s winner against United on Sunday will no doubt have rubbed further salt into the wounds – but with the appeal yet to be heard the Hammers are by no means out of the firing line quite yet.