Another goal for Michail Antonio saw West Ham beat a resilient West Brom 2-1 to continue their winning run.
Antonio, who scored West Ham’s matchwinner against Burnley on Saturday, proved the difference once more for the Hammers on Tuesday night with the decisive strike on 66 minutes.
It was a game of familiar faces with West Brom manager Sam Allardyce returning to the club he gained promotion to the Premier League with back in 2012.
However, Grady Diangana missed out on a return to the London Stadium through injury while Robert Snodgrass – who recently left east London for the Baggies – was unable to face his former side due to a contractual stipulation.
Heading into the encounter West Brom hadn’t won a Premier League game away to West Ham in 18 years. They had also failed to win any of their previous 29 Premier League games played on a Tuesday.
West Ham had the first chance of the game after a corner whipped in by Aaron Cresswell was met by an unmarked Craig Dawson but his header bounced wide of the post.
Another cross from the left by Cresswell was met by fellow full back Vladimir Coufal who struck a half volley from the edge of the box however, it was deflected behind for a corner.
The hosts were building pressure and had a dangerous opportunity to take the lead with a free-kick just outside the penalty area. Manuel Lanzini struck it well, and beat the wall, but the shot failed to dip under the bar clipping the top of the goal net.
West Brom did have an opportunity of their own late in the first half but a swift counter-attack came to nothing after Callum Robinson’s cross was collected by Lukasz Fabianksi.
Minutes later West Brom were dealt a hammer blow when the hosts took the lead on the stroke of half-time. Said Benrahma’s over-hit cross was fired back across the face of goal by Coufal which was chested powerfully into the top right corner by Jarrod Bowen.
It didn’t take long for West Brom to level the scoreline after half-time when on 50 minutes Matheus Pereira unleashed a sensational strike from the edge of the box straight across Fabianski into the far-right corner of the goal. It was sloppy defending from West Ham who were caught out by a piece of individual brilliance, after failing to close the Brazilian down.
Looking for a spark, West Ham made a double substitution with 30 minutes remaining as Andriy Yarmolenko and Pablo Fornals replaced Lanzini and Benrahma.
Yarmolenko made an immediate impact after the Ukrainian international headed Cresswell’s delivery back across goal for Antonio to finish in brilliant style and restore the hosts’ lead.
In the 89th minute Darnell Furlong missed a golden opportunity to equalise when he made a late run into the box and fired a powerful shot towards goal, which narrowly missed the post.
For West Ham the victory means a fourth-straight win in all competitions as they climb the table to within two points of the top four.
But for West Brom it’s just one win in their last 10 games. However, they’ll take positives from a second-half performance where they showed plenty of attacking threat and defensive resilience.
By Fraser Day
