PERFECT BRACE TO BE
Burnley 1 West Ham United 2
David Moyes starts tonight with Benrahma, Fornals and Lanzini, three attacking midfielders, with Michail Antonio returning from injury. That is a team selected with attacking intent.
Dawson records his 200th Premier League appearance while Soucek hits his 50th for West Ham. Just fifty appearances, and it’s already hard to imagine a West Ham side without him. The first ten minutes of play demonstrate a determination from the Hammers to dictate the game. Antonio is frightening when he breaks, like coming up against a speeding HGV in a cycle lane. Lanzini has the first serious effort on goal, a dipping effort from just outside the area that Pope raises a classroom hand to watch over the bar.
Despite the golden start, Burnley get the first break with a penalty, Soucek fouling Chris Wood, who dispatches the penalty to Fabianski’s right. Hammers get level immediately, Antonio heading home from Coufal’s pinpoint cross. Six minutes later Benrahma, fed by Lingard, curls a low inswinging cross to the far post which Antonio has a tap in to finish for his second of the game.
Minutes later Benrahma is curling another cross in to almost duplicate the chance for Antonio which he this time misses by a foot swing. Five minutes later and Burnley are almost level thanks to indecision from Diop who is saved by Dawson clearing Vydra’s effort off the line. The 9-2 stat tally of efforts on goal just before half-time in West Ham’s favour is a vindication of Moyes’ attacking policy this evening.
Ten minutes into the second half West Ham are dominating and Antonio is presented with a hat trick tap-in which he somehow manages to foul foot himself out of scoring. It was just too easy. Harder to miss. After the game he explains that he was trying to get the ball onto his left foot for a ‘perfect’ hat trick.
Dressed in the black away kit, Hammers look like an army of ants going forward onto the dinner table of Burnley’s defence. Jay Rodriguez comes on for Vydra on the hour and his presence in the six yard box shakes up Dawson and Diop in defence, the latter’s weak clearance setting him up for a relatively simple chance which he scuffs wide. That would not have been a good goal to concede.
West Ham control the game and make many scoring opportunities, but there is a sense of overthinking or effacing the effectiveness of a route one approach when the numbers merit it. Moyes brings on Bowen on 80 minutes for Benrahma, who has been brilliant. Chris Wood comes off for Ashley Barnes in the last five minutes, as Barnes returns from injury, but Burnley can’t quite put something together in time to secure a second.
The above snap is for anyone who doubts the importance of Antonio to West Ham this season. An exquisite performance, and two great goals.
1 Lucasz Fabianski, 23 Issa Diop, 15 Craig Dawson, 3 Aaron Cresswell, 5 Vladimir Coufal, 28 Tomas Souček, 9 Saïd Benrahma ,10 Manuel Lanzini, 18 Pablo Fornals, 11 Jesse Lingard, 30 Michail Antonio
Substitute: 20 Jarrod Bowen
Scorer: Michail Antonio (2)
