Liam Delap netted his fourth Premier League goal but Town find themselves 2-1 down to West Ham United on their first visit to the London Stadium.

Ben Johnson returned to the Town XI along with Wes Burns in an otherwise unchanged side.

Johnson came in at right-back with Axel Tuanzebe having picked up a knock, while Burns was on the right of the three behind striker Liam Delap with Chiedozie Ogbene on the bench.

Harry Clarke was among the subs for the first time this season having undergone double achilles surgery in the summer.

West Ham were unchanged from the team which drew 1-1 at Brentford last week with former Blues left-back Aaron Cresswell on the bench.

The game was only 49 seconds old when the home side took the lead. Kalvin Phillips, back at the club where he made a frustrating loan spell in the second half of last season, made a poor pass in midfield and lost possession.

Jacob Greaves slid in to try to win it back but lost out and was left out of position as the Hammers broke down the right, Jarrod Bowen crossing low for Michail Antonio, who turned into the net.

West Ham are the fourth club Antonio has found the net with against Town, following Nottingham Forest, Sheffield Wednesday and Southampton.

However, the home side’s lead lasted only five minutes. A corner from the right flicked off Dara O’Shea’s head at the near post and it reached Delap at the back of the box. The striker battled his way past Lucas Paqueta before hitting a shot on the turn which Alphonse Areola in the West Ham goal could only palm weakly into the roof of his net.

The Town fans at the other end of the ground delightedly celebrated the frontman’s fourth goal in only his seventh Premier League start.

Following the early goals, the game settled down with the Irons seeing most of the ball, Bowen hitting a shot which was blocked by Greaves and then Mohammed Kudus an effort which Aro Muric claimed comfortably, but with the Blues also having spells on the ball.

On 26, with the game for a period being mainly played mostly in the Hammers’ half, Phillips hit a 25-yard shot only just over Areola’s crossbar.

Five minutes later, Jack Clarke was shown the game’s first yellow card for a late challenge on Tomas Soucek in the centre circle after the former Sunderland man’s first touch had let him down.

The Hammers began to look more threatening and on 34 Aaron Wan-Bissaka cut back from the right and Soucek’s shot was bundled behind.

Two minutes later, Delap broke away on the left into the area and went to ground under the attention of Jean-Clair Todibo as he moved into the area but made little protest towards referee Anthony Taylor. The ball subsequently reached Burns, who was fouled.

From the free-kick, Leif Davis’s ball found Greaves, who headed across the face of goal and wide. A first Town goal can’t be too far away for the centre-half.

On 38, Kudus struck the woodwork with a header with Muric in no-man’s land as the ball came over from the right but the linesman raised his flag.

There was a huge scare for Town from the goal-kick with skipper Morsy giving the ball away to Paqueta inside the area from Muric’s pass. The Brazilian international squared to Soucek and O’Shea blocked on the line.

But the home fans didn’t have to wait too much longer for their second goal of the afternoon.

As the half moved into its final scheduled minute, Emerson stood up a cross from the left, Antonio headed powerfully against the bar, the ball bouncing off the line and out, and Kudus nodding home from a couple of feet.

In three additional minutes, Paqueta looped an effort well over from not far outside the box, then a corner from the left avoided everyone in the box and reached Wan-Bissaka outside the box to the right, from where the former Manchester United man struck a low effort which Muric did well to save and hold onto.

That was the last action of a half in which the Blues had shown character with the way they reacted to conceding the very early goal, Delap netting another memorable strike. But both sides will feel they should have defending the two goals much better.

From there, the Blues settled into the game and had brief spells on top but with Phillips’s shot over and Greaves’s header their best chances, while Town were often guilty of giving the ball away too easily.

As the break neared, the Hammers began to put the Blues under more pressure and could have restored their lead prior to Kudus’s header.

West Ham: Areola, Wan-Bissaka, Todibo, Kilman, Emerson, Rodriguez, Soucek, Paqueta, Kudus, Bowen (c), Antonio. Subs: Fabianski, Cresswell, Soler, Coufal, Summerville, Mavropanos, Guilherme, Ings, Alvarez.

Town: Muric, Johnson, O’Shea, Greaves, Davis, Morsy (c), Phillips, Burns, Hutchinson, J Clarke, Delap. Subs: Walton, H Clarke, Woolfenden, Townsend, Taylor, Ogbene, Chaplin, Szmodics, Hirst. Referee: Anthony Taylor (Cheshire). VAR: Darren England (Doncaster).

Photo: Reuters

Global_Blue added 16:07 - Oct 5 Some chaotic and suicidal defending at the end of the first half. West Ham are - and I hate saying it - deservedly in front. I equally hate to say it, but both Bimurns and Johnson look out of their depth down the right. I'd rather have Hutchinson or Smozdics there and Chaplin in the middle.
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blueboy1981 added 16:32 - Oct 5 Simple DEFENDING !! - do we Teach It ?? It MUST BE DONE - Effectively. Far too many errors ‘giving’ silly goals away already this season.
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