West Ham recorded their first Premier League win in nine matches to give their survival hopes a massive boost.
Goals from Jarron Bowen – his first for the club – Sebastien Haller and Michail Antonio saw the Hammers secure a 3-1 win at home to Southampton to provide some respite for David Moyes, and the West Ham owners – who were the subject of a fans protest before kick-off.
Ahead of the match, Moyes said that January signing Bowen wouldn’t be West Ham’s ‘saviour’. Well, inside 15 minutes of his first Premier League start he had his first goal for the club.
Pablo Fornals – handed a start following his goal in the defeat at Liverpool on Monday - feed the ball into the centre of the box and Bowen took one touch before tucking it past Alex McCarthy.
That lead lasted just over 15 minutes. Southampton’s equaliser was, at the time, against the run of play – but they’d shown enough before Bowen’s goal for it to feel somewhat justified.
Michael Obafemi finished off a fine move with fine goal – side-footing a volley into the ground to beat Lukasz Fabianski.
Despite the setback, and the off-field tensions towards the board, the Hammers didn’t stutter.
Their lead should have been restored by Issa Diop, but with the half winding to a close Sebastien Haller capitalised on an awful mistake from McCarthy to give the Hammers the lead.
The striker nodded the ball to Michail Antonio who hoofed the ball high into the box. McCarthy should claim that with ease, but Haller out-jumps the Southampton goalkeeper and reacts quickest to slide in a volley.
Ralph Hasenhuttl brought Ings on shortly after the restart when Southampton were probing for a route back into the match, but it proved too little too late for the Saints.
West Ham extended their lead with their best attack of the game. Haller held up the ball brilliantly before picking out Fornals. He then clipped a delightful ball through to Antonio who finished past McCarthy with ease.
By the hour mark, confidence was flowing through the West Ham attack – demonstrated no-more-so than by Haller.
Picked out by Noble on the halfway line, the French forward nonchalantly hit a rabona through-pass to Antonio who would have extended West Ham’s lead even further but for a good save from McCarthy.
With Aston Villa in Carabao Cup Final action this weekend, West Ham’s win takes them out of the relegation zone ahead of next weekend’s London derby at Arsenal.
This page is being updated.
