West Ham United 2-3 Leeds United
Another Sunday afternoon in east London, another clash between West Ham United and Leeds United.
Exactly a week after the Hammers despatched their opponents in the FA Cup, here was a re-match at the same venue at the same time in the Premier League.
If the FA Cup was a fairly straightforward encounter, this contest was totally different, a match full of Premier League highlights, a topsy-turvy clash which went one way then the other and xxx upset the SBOTOOP Premier League betting odds.
Highlights of the game
West Ham named an unchanged side from the one that beat Norwich in midweek with neither Tomas Soucek and Mark Noble yet ready to return to the squad.
A chance for revenge for Leeds who included Daniel James and Pascal Struijk in the starting XI as manager Marcelo Bielsa made two changes from their last Premier League outing.
Last season’s top scorer Patrick Bamford did not make the squad, despite reportedly recovering from a hip injury, but club record recruit Rodrigo was deemed fit enough for the bench.
The Yorkshire club was, however, still missing seven players because of injury or suspension, a position which shows the squad could do with strengthening – even if victory over Burnley a fortnight ago has provided some wriggle room at the foot of the table.
Even accounting for absences, the visitors made an enterprising start and were rewarded 10 minutes in as Adam Forshaw passed to Jack Harrison and the ex-Man City man bent the ball in.
It was one of Forshaw’s few involvements as Leeds’ injury woes worsened twice in as many minutes.
He had to leave the pitch soon afterwards, as did Junior Firpo with what appeared to be hamstring issues, replaced by youngsters Lewis Bate and Leo Hjelde respectively.
As Leeds regrouped there was a let-off when the unmarked Craig Dawson headed wide from a corner.
The respite was brief as man of the moment Jarrod Bowen found space at an Aaron Cresswell corner and headed home the equaliser.
Impressively though, the visitors regained the advantage seven minutes before the break as Luke Ayling headed down a ball into the box and Harrison reacted to nudge it over the line for his and Leeds’ second.
The Hammers almost levelled again as Declan Rice was played clear by Pablo Fornals only to find the side-netting, yet Leeds could also have extended their advantage through James who shot straight at Lukasz Fabianski when clean through.
If the first half was entertaining, the second was no less thrilling.
Only six minutes had elapsed since the restart when the home side were level again when Michail Antonio touched the ball on for Fornals who cut inside and placed a low effort into the back of the net.
Level again against injury-hit visitors, I would have backed the hosts to win from this point, yet their joy was short-lived.
Yes, it was poor defending but Raphinha’s diagonal ball was superb and there was Harrison to deftly lift the ball over Fabianski to complete his hat-trick.
It would have been four soon afterwards but Raphinha, Leeds’ best player this season, bent a free-kick over the wall only to see it bounce off the post with Fabianski helpless.
Again they were denied a fourth after more Raphinha magic saw the Brazilian cut the ball back to Mateusz Klich whose finish was ruled out by VAR with sub Rodrigo in an offside position.
If that was contentious for some, it was the right call when Andriy Yarmolenko headed in but was also ruled offside after a fine double save from Ilian Meslier denied Vladimir Coufal and Bowen.
In stoppage time Meslier kept out Yarmolenko and, with that Leeds, who had lost all four competitive meetings against West Ham since returning to the Premier League in 2020, stood firm to make sure of the points.
Arguably their best result of the campaign as they recorded back-to-back top-flight victories for the first time this season, how crucial that could be.
Key statistics
Harrison is the first Leeds United player to score a league hat-trick against West Ham since Russell Wainscoat in April 1927.
It is the first time he has scored twice in a league match for Leeds in what is his 136th league appearance for the club.
Antonio has been involved in 14 goals for West Ham this season, only Mohamed Salah has contributed to more in the Premier League.
West Ham have scored 24 Premier League goals from corners since the start of 2020, more than any other side, and have netted from a corner in three of their four league games against Leeds in that time.
Eight of West Ham’s last nine goals in all competitions have been scored by Manuel Lanzini (three) or Bowen (four).
Until today, Leeds had lost 10 of their past 11 Premier League matches in London.
What’s next?
West Ham go to Old Trafford next Saturday, where they have already won this term (in the League Cup), looking to boost their top four hopes. They then have a brief break before a return to action against giantkillers Kidderminster in the FA Cup on February 5. Leeds have an even longer break after an important match at home to Newcastle next weekend as they then wait until February 9 to travel to Aston Villa.
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