Huddersfield Town 1-4 West Ham United
Premier League, John Smith’s Stadium, Saturday 13 January 2018
Three goals in a devastating 16-minute spell at the start of the second half gave West Ham United a memorable 4-1 Premier League victory at Huddersfield Town.
The Hammers were ruthless in front of goal with Marko Arnautovic and Manuel Lanzini in unstoppable form. The No10 scored twice, while Arnautovic registered a goal and two assists as his fine run of form continued.
David Moyes' resurgent side have lost just one in eight, are up to eleventh in the table and have completed their first league 'double' of the season.
Earlier, Mark Noble had given the visitors a 25th-minute lead with a cool finish from inside the area, before Joe Lolley – whose error gifted Arnautovic the ball in the lead up to Noble’s goal – atoned for his error by levelling from the edge of the box.
West Ham did not let their heads drop and attacked in clinical fashion on the game’s resumption, taking the game away from their hosts with those three unanswered goals – the first within 12 seconds of the restart through Arnautovic.
The Hammers welcomed back Arnautovic, James Collins and Aaron Cresswell from injury and the trio all came straight into the starting eleven.
However, it was the hosts who saw most of the ball inside the opening ten to 15 minutes, although all they had to show for it was a header glanced wide of the target by Christopher Schindler from a right-wing corner.
West Ham slowly began to impose themselves on the contest, with Lanzini and Arnautovic looking to link up in attack, and it was the latter’s persistence which led to their opener
Huddersfield goalkeeper Jonas Lossl played the ball short to Lolley, but the midfielder was not reckoning on Arnautovic closing him down so quickly. The Austrian stole the ball and played it through to Noble, who calmly finished inside the near post.
After taking the lead, West Ham looked relatively comfortable in the advantage until Lolley took up the mantle to make up for his error five minutes before half-time.
He drove at the Hammers’ defence, and as they backed off he took advantage of the space to curl a fine shot beyond the grasp of Adrian.
The Hammers did not let that setback affect them though as they set about Huddersfield with wonderful efficiency at the start of the second period.
Straight from kick-off the visitors made it 2-1. After Lanzini kicked-off, the ball was played long forward to Cheikhou Kouyate, whose touch found Arnautovic. His flick left Tommy Smith standing and there was no doubt the Austrian would fire home for his sixth goal in seven top-flight matches.
With 56 minutes on the clock Arnautovic was involved again to set up a beautiful goal for Lanzini. After fine work from the impressive Kouyate and Pedro Obiang, the No7’s stepover bamboozled Christopher Schindler and allowed him to pass through perfectly for Lanzini to slam home from 15 yards.
Huddersfield could not live with the Hammers’ attacking duo and they combined again for the fourth just five minutes later, as Arnautovic burst into the box, running from right to left. He couldn’t pull the trigger, but Lanzini was there in support and he fired into the roof of the net to give Lossl no chance.
Terriers debutant Alex Pritchard had a deflected free-kick which Adrian did well to readjust and save 15 minutes from the end, but there was no way back for the hosts as West Ham continued their unbeaten start to 2018.
Huddersfield Town: Lossl, Smith (Kongolo 71), Zanka, Schindler, Malone, Hogg, Mooy, van La Parra, Lolley (Pritchard 65), Ince, Depoitre
Subs not used: Coleman, Sabiri, Williams, Mounie, Hefele
Goal: Lolley 40
Booked: Smith
West Ham United: Adrian, Collins, Ogbonna, Cresswell, Zabaleta, Obiang, Kouyate, Noble, Masuaku, Lanzini (Rice 85), Arnautovic (Ayew 82)
Subs not used: Hart, Chicharito, Burke, Cullen
Goals: Noble 25, Arnautovic 46, Lanzini 56, 61
Booked: Cresswell
Referee: Jonathan Moss
Attendance: 24,105