| West Ham United 4 v 1 Ipswich Town FA Premier League Saturday, 5th October 2024 Kick-off 15:00 |  |
West Ham United 4-1 Ipswich Town - Match Report Saturday, 5th Oct 2024 17:01 Liam Delap netted his fourth Premier League goal but Town were comfortably beaten 4-1 by West Ham United on their first visit to the London Stadium. The Hammers went in front in the 49th second via Michail Antonio but the Blues hit back on six through Delap. However, the home side finished the first half strongly and restored their lead through Mohammed Kudus, then four minutes after the restart Jarrod Bowen made it 3-1 and on 69 Lucas Paqueta added the fourth as the Irons picked up home points for the first time this season. 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 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 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 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. The result was all but confirmed four minutes after the restart when the Hammers went 3-1 in front. Muric miscontrolled a back-pass from Johnson and was forced to slide in and tackle Antonio. The ball reached Bowen on the right, midway inside the Town half, and the former Hull winger brought the ball into the area and easily past Phillips, before hitting a low shot across Muric and inside the post. Again, Town played a significant role in their own downfall with the goal Bowen’s fourth in five games against the Blues, three for the Tigers. Having secured a two-goal lead, the Hammers were comfortable and on the hour Bowen played a clever ball for Kudus to chase into the area. The Ghanaian flicked towards goal but Muric made a good stop down to his right. Having gone through a frustrated spell, the Blues created their first chance of the second half in the 65th minute, Burns crossing from the right to Delap, whose header was well saved down to his right by Areola. However, four minutes later, West Ham made it 4-1. Bowen brought the ball in from the right and played an inch-perfect low ball across the six-yard box to Paqueta, who tapped into the net from close range. Following the goal, West Ham swapped Guido Rodriguez and Antonio for Edson Alvarez and Carlos Soler. Town made their first changes on 74, Sammie Szmodics, Chiedozie Ogbene and Jack Taylor replacing Clarke, Burns and Phillips, who smiled ruefully as his withdrawal prompted boos from his old supporters. Four minutes later, with West Ham looking for more goals, Kudus hit a low effort to Muric’s right, the keeper saving well. With seven minutes remaining, ahead of a corner, the Hammers switched Emerson for ex-Blues left-back Cresswell and Paqueta for Crysencio Summerville, while Town replaced Delap and Omari Hutchinson for George Hirst and Conor Chaplin. From the flag-kick, the ball was cleared to Soler, who blazed over from the edge of the box. In the 86th minute West Ham made another change, Kudus making way for Luis Guilherme. A minute later, Town probably should have pulled a goal back. Chaplin cleverly turned a Davis pass to Szmodics inside the box and the Irish international took a touch before hitting his shot across the face and wide when he will feel he should have hit the target. As the game moved into four minutes of injury time, Cresswell curled a 25-yard free-kick well over the bar. The third goal soon after the break effectively ended the game as a contest, although Delap’s header which Areola saved might have given the Blues something to build on had it gone in. Nevertheless, it was the most disappointing afternoon of the season so far for Town, their previous two defeats having come against Liverpool and Manchester City. Defensive solidity had been a hallmark of the four draws which followed those defeats but on this occasion the Blues made far too many errors at the back. And at the other end, there wasn’t too much for the Town fans to shout about, Delap’s excellent goal aside, with too little made of opportunities going forward, althought Greaves might have hit the target with his header, Szmodics will feel he should have taken his late chance and Areola saved well from Delap in the second half. The result sees the Blues drop to 17th with 16th-placed Everton, who host Newcastle this evening, the next visitors to Portman Road in a fortnight after the international break. West Ham: Areola, Wan-Bissaka, Todibo, Kilman, Emerson (Cresswell 83), Rodriguez (Alvarez 70), Soucek, Paqueta (Summerville 83), Kudus (Guilherme 86), Bowen (c), Antonio (Soler 70). Unused: Fabianski, Coufal, Mavropanos, Ings. Town: Muric, Johnson, O’Shea, Greaves, Davis, Morsy (c), Phillips (Taylor 74), Burns (Ogbene 74), Hutchinson, J Clarke (Szmodics 74), Delap. Unused: Walton, H Clarke, Woolfenden, Townsend. Referee: Anthony Taylor (Cheshire). VAR: Darren England (Doncaster). Att: 62,467.
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