West Ham 2-3 Leeds (Bowen 34’, Fornals 52’ | Harrison 10’, 37’, 60’)
Jack Harrison had only opened his Premier League account for the season in Leeds’ previous match against Burnley, and a fortnight later he was celebrating an unlikely hat-trick at West Ham.
The Leeds winger’s vital contribution helped his side move nine points clear of the relegation zone, while it also dented West Ham’s hopes of playing Champions League football next season.
The Hammers still sit fourth, but are only two points above Arsenal having played two games more, while Tottenham are four points adrift of West Ham with four games in hand.
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The momentum soon switched in West Ham’s favour, and after Leeds lost both Junior Firpo and Adam Forshaw to injury midway through the first half – handing Premier League debuts to Lewis Bate and Leo Hjelde in the process – the hosts almost levelled when Michail Antonio’s shot was blocked by Stuart Dallas.
Player ratings
West Ham (4-2-3-1)
- Fabianski – 5
- Cresswell – 5
- Coufal – 5
- Diop – 4
- Dawson – 5
- Rice – 6
- Lanzini – 4
- Fornals – 6
- Vlasic – 5
- Bowen – 6
- Antonio – 5
Subs
- Masuaku – 5
- Yarmolenko – 5
- Perkins – N/A
Leeds United (4-2-3-1)
- Meslier – 6
- Ayling – 7
- Firpo – 5
- Koch – 7
- Struijk – 6
- Klich – 6
- Forshaw – 5
- Harrison – 9
- Dallas – 7
- Raphinha – 8
- James – 7
Subs
- Bate – 6
- Hjelde – 6
- Rodrigo – 6
West Ham fans were up off their seats when Craig Dawson met Aaron Cresswell’s corner, but his seemingly goal-bound header somehow bounced wide.
Moments later, another Cresswell corner, another free header, and this time Jarrod Bowen made no mistake from six yards out.
West Ham were then caught napping from a corner themselves, with Harrison bundling in his second after meeting Luke Ayling’s header at the far post, and it could have been worse for the hosts before half-time, but Dan James shot straight at Fabianski when one on one with the goalkeeper before firing another effort just wide.
Leeds United’s bench
(Age) – All-time PL appearances
- Kristoffer Klaesson (21) – 0
- Rodrigo (30) – 55
- Lewis Bate (19) – 1*
- Leo Hjelde (18) – 1*
- Stuart McKinstry (19) – 1
- Jack Jenkins (19) – 0
- Kris Moore (18) – 0
- Nohan Kenneh (19) – 0
- Archie Gray (15) – 0
*Made debuts against West Ham on Sunday
After the break West Ham shot out the blocks, and in the 52nd minute they were level, with Pablo Fornals cutting inside and then wrongfooting goalkeeper Illan Meslier when opting for the near post with his low strike.
Once more though, Leeds showed incredible resolve to retake the lead, this time capitalising on Nikola Vlasic losing possession in midfield before Harrison found himself in acres of space, keeping his cool to dink an effort over Fabianski to record his hat-trick.
Raphinha then rattled the woodwork with a free-kick as Leeds searched for a fourth, and the visitors then saw a goal chalked off for offside when Mateusz Klich saw his attempt flick off teammate Rodrigo, who was standing on the goal line and had tried to get out the way.
West Ham then had the ball in the net, only for another correct offside call to deny Andriy Yarmolenko, and somehow Bowen chested an injury-time effort over the bar for West Ham, who will only know the true cost of this loss once Arsenal and Spurs have finally played catch-up.
Analysis to follow.
from Football – inews.co.uk https://ift.tt/3fuqgzL
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