West Ham came from behind to earn a point against Southampton, extending their unbeaten run to five games. Declan Rice’s goal cancelled out Romain Perraud’s first half strike for Southampton, denying the Saints their first win since August. This result moves West Ham move up to 12th in the table.
Frustrating Half for West Ham
Perraud put the Saints ahead in controversial fashion after his deflected shot got past Hammers’ keeper Lukasz Fabiański. West Ham claimed Jarrod Bowen was blocked by referee Peter Banks, denying the Englishmen the opportunity to intervene before the goal.
West Ham went close to drawing level on several occasions. Gianluca Scamacca had a couple of shots sail wide, while Lucas Paqueta hit the post late in the first half.
The Skipper Steps Up When Needed
The Hammers eventually equalised with Rice curling the ball in from outside of the box, scoring his first goal of the season.
West Ham will likely feel they should’ve gone onto win this game, with Southampton’s defence holding on by the thread. Thanks to their goalkeeper Gavin Bazunu by denying strong shots from Scamacca and Saïd Benrahma.
West Ham went into this game short in defence, with Thilo Kehrer being the only fit centre back available for this game. This forced the Hammers to switch their tactics and revert to a back three.
Despite this change, West Ham will feel they should’ve taken all three points back to London. Aside from Southampton’s controversial opener, the Hammers had 25 shots during the games, the most they’ve had all season. Despite this West Ham could only score once, with Southampton’s defence frustrating the Hammers’ attack all game.
In the first 10 games of the season West Ham have scored just nine goals, tied of the fifth lowest amount in the league.
David Moyes Not Impressed With Officials
Speaking after the game West Ham manager David Moyes vented his anger at the officials, saying the video assistant referee “needs to go Specsavers”.
“How have we not got three points? The real reason is the referee, the referee gets in the way of the ability for us to defend. The ball comes out and Jarrod Bowen goes to get the ball and the referee blocks Jarrod Bowen from getting to it and the boy scores from it. Ridiculous, it really is.”
Stats
Possession: Southampton (39.1%) West Ham (60.9%)
Shots on target: Southampton (8) West Ham (4)
Shots: Southampton (10) West Ham (25)
Corners: Southampton (4) West Ham (14)
Offside: Southampton (1) West Ham (0)
Yellow Cards: Southampton (1) West Ham (1)
Man of the Match: Declan Rice
What’s Next?
West Ham don’t have long to prepare for their next game as they travel to Liverpool on Wednesday for a 7:30 Kick Off at Anfield, who are coming off a big win against champions Manchester City.
