West Ham United left it late to claw back a draw at Huddersfield Town’s John Smith’s Stadium.
Both David Wagner and Manuel Pellegrini named unchanged starting lineup’s after guiding The Terriers and The Hammers to respective home wins against Fulham and Burnley.
Sprung Into Life
The contest got off to an explosive start, with West Ham looking for consecutive league wins for the first time since January 2017.
In the game’s infancy, Łukasz Fabiański expertly tipped over a header from Huddersfield forward Steve Mounié following Aaron Mooy’s outswinging corner.
In the immediate aftermath of Mounié’s effort, youthful winger Grady Diangana turned Jonathan Hogg superbly to lay a first-rate pass to Marko Arnautović, cutting open the Town defence, however the Austrian was matched by Huddersfield goalkeeper Jonas Lössl, who’s fingertips denied Arnautović’s one-on-one chance.
Advantage Town
The fiery start continued – Slack play from Felipe Anderson and Declan Rice allowed Huddersfield an opportunity to play a sharp one-two between Hogg and former West Ham academy midfielder Alex Pritchard; allowing Pritchard to stroke the ball past Hammers custodian Fabiański from the edge of the area, to put the West Yorkshire club a goal to the good less than ten minutes in.
Searching for their second victory in a week, Huddersfield played with an added impetus.
Danish midfielder Philip Billing came within inches of doubling the Terries’ advantage with a cross-cum-shot that seemed to do everything but cross the line after Fabiański was well beaten. Fortunately for the Pole, Billing’s effort crashed off the far post.
Huddersfield had the half well under control, restricting the Hammers to defensive duties as Mounié reguarly threatened Pellegrini’s men.
Hammers Fight Back
A lively Diangana was hauled off at half-time in preference for West Ham’s more experienced Javier Hernández. The Mexican almost made an immediate impact, twisting and turning through Huddersfield’s back line, only to see his headed attempt loop over the bar after forcing Lössl into a point blank save.
Pellegrini’s half-time words clearly had an impact on West Ham’s personnel as the Hammers entered the second-half looking rejuvenated and on the 74th minute they got their reward.
Aaron Cresswell started the passage of play, playing a short pass to summer signing Felipe Anderson, nutmegging Florent Hadergjonaj in the process.
The Brazilian forced his way down the wing, forwarding in on Huddersfield’s defence, sliding a through ball into the path of Robert Snodgrass.
The usually reliable Arnautović failed to connect properly with Snodgrass’ cross, leaving Hernández and Michail Antonio to see their efforts blocked by the Town defence, before Anderson took up responsibility, rifling his strike into the top corner, leaving Lössl stranded.
A relief, surely, for Anderson who had largely failed to impress until this point.
Last Chance Saloon
With ten Huddersfield men failing to keep out Anderson’s finish, the pendulum once again swung. With 12 minutes of regulation side remaining, Issa Diop saw his header cleared off the line by Mooy, seconds before Lössl’s reach denied Antonio from connecting a header.
With legs tiring and defence’s being stretched as both sides went in search for a winner, the tie became wide open. Former Borussia Dortmund full-back Erik Durm saw his long range effort go the wrong side of Fabiański’s post.
Game Stats
Huddersfield Town starting XI: Lössl; Jørgensen, Schindler, Kongolo, Hadergjonaj; Mooy, Hogg, Billing, Löwe (Durm 45′), Pritchard (Mbenza 72′); Mounié (Depoitre 89′).
Subs not used: Hamer, Smith, Bacuna, Kachunga.
West Ham United starting XI: Fabiański; Zabaleta, Balbuena (Fredericks 73′), Diop, Cresswell; Diangana (Hernández 45′), Rice, Obiang (Antonio 64′), Snodgrass, Anderson; Arnautović.
Subs not used: Adrián, Ogbonna, Masuaku, Pérez.
