West Ham move up to 5th in the Premier League table after a brilliant 2-0 win over Leeds United. Craig Dawson and Jesse Lingard scored the goals that proved to be enough for the Hammers to collect a big three points.
David Moyes’ men did have a very sluggish start to the match in which Leeds found the back of the net on two occasions. Thankfully both goals were ruled out, one for offside and the over for the ball running out of play in the build-up.
Here are the player ratings form West Ham’s win.
Goalkeeper & Defence
Fabianski 9/10
The 35-year-old showed exactly why he is still at the top of his game against Leeds. The Polish stopper made some fantastic saves to keep the Yorkshire team at bay. The pick of the bunch was tipping Raphinha’s overhead kick over the bar.
Lukas Fabianski was in top form as West Ham beat Leeds, the veteran stopper made some crucial saves during the match.
Coufal 7/10
Solid as ever, Coufal had a standard performance and did well to nullify the likes of Jack Harrison and Hélder Costa for the majority of the match. The Czech did not have the same impact going forward as he usually does. However, this left a lot of work to be done by Jesse Lingard and Pablo Fornals.
Dawson 10/10
SIGN HIM UP. A perfect match from Craig Dawson. The defender scored the second goal of the game with a brilliant bullet header. A brilliant defensive display then followed this. Dawson even made an unbelievable goal-line clearance in the dying stages of the match. The defender’s rating could have even been an 11/10 if he had scored his second of the night rather than hit the post.
Diop 6/10
The Frenchman could not replicate Dawson’s brilliance next to him but still put in a solid shift. Diop was composed and did his job dutifully. However, if there was a crack in West Ham’s armour, it was the 24-year-old. On a couple of occasions, he was out of position though Leeds could not punish his mistakes.
Cresswell 8/10
Aaron Cresswell continued to show why he is a player reborn this season. The left-back did a good job on marking Raphinha, though he did lose him a couple of times. Cresswell did notch another assist for the season, crossing in for Dawson’s goal.
Midfield
Lingard 86′ 8/10
A penalty miss but scored the rebound. Lingard made up for his error emphatically. The loanee continued to impress against Leeds. The connection that has been built in the attackers since Lingard has joined has been formidable. This performance joining the growing list of reasons why West Ham will need to buy him once the transfer window reopens.
Soucek 8/10
The Czech midfielder found himself in the wars for ninety minutes. Soucek crashing into the post before taking a couple of hard tackles from Leeds players. Each time Soucek got up and continued to play to his normal impressive levels. The midfielder was even linking up the attack and setting them off with some perfect passes, which was a bonus.
West Ham’s midfield put in a good display against Marcelo Bielsa’s side, the Argentine manager had even picked out Rice and Soucek as the team’s keymen.
Rice 8/10
On the day where club captain Mark Noble has signed a contract extension for a further year, he will know that he can fully enjoy his football next year by putting his trust in Declan Rice to carry the torch. Rice was superb once again and must have finally silenced the Rice vs Kalvin Phillips debate once and for all.
Fornals 9/10
The Spaniard put in one of his best performances against Manchester City last week and followed it up with another brilliant display against Leeds. Fornals was everywhere, helping protect the defence as well as helping the team counter-attack. The midfielder also almost scored the goal of the season with a volley from 30-yards, only to be denied by the crossbar.
If Fornals had scored, it would have wrapped up a perfect performance from the midfielder. It seems harsh to dock him a point for only rattling the crossbar from his effort.
Attack
Benrahma ’73 8/10
Said Benrahma definitely gave David Moyes something to think about ahead of West Ham’s next game. The Algerian was superb in linking up the Hammers attacking play and was unlucky not to grab his first goal for the club. However, if Benrahma is to continue shooting from outside the box, he needs to start hitting the target more.
Antonio 7/10
A quieter night for Antonio. The striker did his job and held up the ball well. However, he never seemed to be a big threat to Leeds. Antonio did make a lot of bursting runs, but like against Man City, the player with the ball either chose a different option or was unable to find him. The main plus point is that it is another game where Antonio did not pick up an injury.
Declan Rice thinks that the performance from West Ham against Leeds was disappointing, however, we tend to disagree.
Subs:
Jarrod Bowen and Ben Johnson were late substitutions and did their jobs. Bowen was solid at keeping the ball in the Leeds corner and helping the clock tick down. The winger did have a shot that was easy pickings for Meslier. Johnson came on to help solidify the defence but did not have a lot of time to impact the match.
West Ham are next up against second in the league Manchester United. The Hammers will be able to move up into the Champions League spots if they are able to beat the Red Devils. Having said that, United have got the best of David Moyes’ side on two different occasions this season.