West Ham United beat Southampton 3-1 on Saturday at St Mary’s Stadium and in doing so produced one of their most complete team performances of the season.
Despite an early Manolo Gabbiadini goal for Southampton, the Hammers responded in style to come back from behind through goals from Andy Carroll, Pedro Obiang and Mark Noble.
Andy Carroll’s cool 14th minute finish extended his scoring run to five goals in his last six league matches, while Mark Noble’s free-kick early in the second half was his fifth goal in all competitions this year: three more than what he had at the same stage last season.
For West Ham, the game was littered with ‘firsts’: January signing, Robert Snodgrass, made his first league start; Pedro Obiang’s powerful strike from 25-yards was his first West Ham United goal; and remarkably, the win was our first ever at St Mary’s Stadium. Before Saturday, the Hammers had endured a torrid record on the South-coast having not won in over sixteen-and-a-half years.
Whilst the Saints enjoyed much of the possession (55%) and had fifteen more attempts, it was the Hammers who made the most of the opportunities they had. The three goals scored came from just six attempts in total so in the end, the more clinical side at the top of the field and the better defensive unit at the back, deserved their win.
Again, going forward the Hammers played to their strengths: Andy Carroll had a couple of headed chances on top of the goal he did score and he and strike-partner, Michail Antonio, enjoyed a combined nine successful aerial duels throughout the afternoon.
Cheikhou Kouyate returned from the African Cup of Nations impressively as he replaced the injured Sam Byram in an unfamiliar role of right-back. Cheikhou completed five out of five successful tackles, made six interceptions – more than any other player on the pitch, and made five defensive clearances.
Slaven Bilic also praised the work-rate of his West Ham United side and it was indeed two Hammers who topped the distance covered charts on Saturday afternoon. Mark Noble ran 12.09 kilometres and Robert Snodgrass covered 11.79 km with the latter making the most number of individual sprints on the day (81).
For Bilic, Saturday was his 25th Premier League win as West Ham United boss - no manager has reached this feat quicker than the Croatian in the club’s 122-year history.
The win has now taken West Ham United up to ninth in the Premier League, five points behind West Bromwich Albion, who they welcome to London Stadium on Saturday 11 February.
For more match statistics from our superb win at Southampton, visit our Match Centre.