Sebastien Haller was the hero with a fantastic goal, as West Ham beat Sheffield United and made it back-to-back wins in the Premier League.
David Moyes named an unchanged West Ham side to the one that beat Fulham before the International break. The main surprise was the absence of Michail Antonio; the forward has been injured since the game against Manchester City. Antonio was expected to make the bench at least but evidently was not fit enough.
The good news for the Hammers was the fitness of Angelo Ogbonna. The Italian defender took a knock against Fulham; however, he recovered during the break and was fit enough to start the match.
MATCH REPORT
The first chance of the game fell to the home side inside three minutes. John Egan played a speculative ball forward over the Hammers defence. George Baldock beat Arthur Masuaku to the ball and volleyed his shot first time. The shot was on target but well saved by Lukasz Fabianski.
The Blades had most of the ball in the opening stages and were mainly attacking the Hammers left-side. Moyes’ team, on the other hand, were looking lethargic from a busy international break. Sebastien Haller, in particular, looked off the pace and was let down by his touch on a few occasions.
West Ham did start to get themselves into the match after marshalling Sheffield’s early dominance. Pablo Fornals and Masuaku were linking up well on the left-side but were unable to create any clear goal-scoring opportunities.
Despite the Hammers starting to dominate, it was the blades that had the next substantial chance on goal. After some good play down the right, the ball came at an awkward height to Ollie McBurnie. The Scottish striker did well to chest it and volley at goal. Fabianksi was equal to the shot and kept the scores level.
The Hammers did fight back and mustered the first effort on goal. After some good passing play, the ball fell to Jarrod Bowen. The English winger was able to play in Vladimir Coufal. The Czech tried to place his shot from a tight angle, but Aaron Ramsdale was able to get down to the ball and make the save.
West Ham then created a brilliant chance to open the scoring. Tomas Soucek started the move with a quick throw. The ball went to Fornals who crossed from the left to Haller. The striker cushioned his header to Soucek who had made a surging run into the box. The Czech badly miss-hit his shot wide, despite the goal being at his mercy.
Sheffield United still looked dangerous when they went forward and were ending the first-half looking the more likely to score. Fabianski pulled off a brilliant save from looping McBurnie header that looked destined for the net. The Blades then hit the post from the resulting corner before play was stopped by an offside.
SECOND HALF
Chris Wilder’s side started the second half the better of the two teams. The Blades were testing Fabainksi from distance. The home side were also playing some dangerous balls into the box but wasn’t able to get on the end of them.
Just like the first half West Ham did start to get themselves into the game. Haller had a half-chance after a cute ball from Declan Rice. Between Ethan Ampadu and Ramsdale, the Blades defence were able to stop him a clean shot on goal.
West Ham made the most of their next chance though. Pablo Fornals had a shot blocked on the edge of the Sheffield United area. The ball deflected to the feet of Haller. The Ivorian hammered his shot from 20-yards into the top corner of the goal. Ramsdale was well beaten despite getting a finger to the ball.
The game opened up after the goal. West Ham had a couple of chances to double their lead but were unable to get any meaningful contact on their shots. Sheffield United also pushed forward but failed to create any clearcut chances as the Hammers defence stood firm.
It was the Hammers who went closest to a second goal in the 70th minute. Rice, fresh off scoring a header for England last week, clattered a header from a Cresswell corner against the crossbar. The Blades also hit the bar a couple of minutes later. McBurnie was played in by Rhian Brewster and smashed his shot against the bar.
Moyes then made his first change of the game. With fifteen minutes to go, Manuel Lanzini came into the action and replaced Pablo Fornals. With the game entering the final ten minutes, Sheffield started to push men up as they searched for an important equaliser. The Hammers continued to defend well, Ogbonna proving pivotal to the defence.
David Moyes’ side were struggling to keep the ball in the Yorkshire sides half which was inviting pressure. Along with this sloppy play, the Hammers were dropping deeper and deeper to protect their lead. The Blades weren’t able to break them down as the game entered injury time.
Moyes made his next change with only a minute to go. Mark Noble made his return to the pitch after recovering from injury. The club captain replaced the Bowen; the forward had put run himself into the ground.
Despite a last-minute push from the Blades, West Ham were able to hold on for all three points and make it back to back wins in the Premier League. The win was the Hammers first away to Sheffield United since 1968 when Sir Geoff Hurst scored the winner.
The win means that the Hammers climb into the top half of the Premier League table. The East London side have a positive goal difference of five and are now only three points the top four having played one more game.