Southampton 1 West Ham 2: Felipe Anderson stars in comeback win

1/24
Jack Rosser @JackRosser_28 December 2018

West Ham are back into the Premier League’s top 10 after Felipe Anderson led the charge in coming from behind to win 2-1 at Southampton.

A brace from the record signing - the first a rifled finish at the near post before he rounded off a well executed break - saw a Hammers side, much changed through injury, put and end to Ralph Hasenhuttl’s winning run after Nathan Redmond had put his side ahead.

Southampton have looked revived and rejuvenated under the Austrian Hasenhuttl and, going in search of three consecutive League wins since the days of Ronald Koeman, they picked up where they left off in recent games early on.

A threadbare West Ham allowed room to the Saints midfield, before Matt Targett slipped in behind Michail Antonio, deployed at right back in the absence of ill Pablo Zabaleta, to cut back to Redmond whose effort drew the first save from Lukasz Fabianski.

Moments later the hosts were in again, Danny Ings this time looking to force the issue, working in down the left before firing into the side netting.

West Ham managed to find their feet, though without Marko Arnautovic driving through the middle were having to rely on getting out wide and crossing into Lucas Perez.

Against a back three featuring the tallest outfield player in the Premier League in Jannik Vestergaard the former Arsenal striker stood little chance, so when he got the ball to feet it was vital Perez took his chances.

Getty Images

The travelling fans thought he had done just that when Aaron Cresswell managed to get in behind for the first time, found Perez unmarked in the box, but could only watch on as the 30-year-old clattered his effort against his own leg and wide.

The visitors, looking to bounce back from a first defeat in five against Watford before Christmas, kept the pressure up, Declan Rice expertly snuffing out any Southampton attempt to break.

Southampton were below the standards set in Hasenhuttl’s first few games - especially the two wins - though a large part of that was down to Rice. The hosts were more direct after the break, and had a break of luck and some poor defending to thank in taking the lead.

Mario Lemina, in for the suspended Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg, chased a loose ball and swung it in towards Stuart Armstrong. The Scotsman’s effort was blocked before Oriol Romeu’s follow-up fell to Redmond, played onside by Grady Diangana a good six yards deeper than his teammates; Fabianski was on hand to keep two efforts out before Redmond eventually bundled the ball over the line, with replays showing the ball clipped his hand on the way in.

Action Images via Reuters

The goal, despite protests from West Ham players, stood - but the lead didn’t last long.

Anderson had caused trouble down the left all evening, finding space in behind youngster Yann Valery at every opportunity. It was, though, from a Southampton clearance that he found his seventh goal of the season, taking one touch to set himself when picking up Vestergaard’s header 20-yards out before drilling past Alex McCarthy at the near post.

REUTERS

The Brazilian didn’t have to wait long for his eighth Premier League strike either. Having struggled defensively already, Valery could do little when, as the only one left back at a corner, the visitors charged forward from a Southampton corner, Antonio running at the French full-back before clipping into the path of Anderson who, with all the time in the world, finished well past the England keeper.

West Ham United via Getty Images

Hasenhuttl had to act: first came the pace of Shane Long before the guile of Charlie Austin - who won this fixture with a stoppage-time penalty last season - was introduced.

Having lost the first four games of the season, Pellegrini will be delighted with a run of four wins from five games before West Ham kick off the second half of the season with a trip to Burnley on Sunday.

There was enough to suggest that with a little investment in January they will beat the drop, while Pellegrini can end Christmas looking up the tree rather than down.

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in