SM
Friday, November 8
Upcoming predictions and previews
WH
Premier League | Gameweek 15
Dec 4, 2018 at 7.45pm UK
 
CC

3-1

Perez (49', 54'), Antonio (61')
FT(HT: 0-0)
Murphy (90')

Perez punishes Cardiff with double for West Ham

:Headline: Result: Perez punishes Cardiff with double for West Ham: ID:343373: from db_amp
The summer signing from Arsenal found the net twice.

Lucas Perez scored his first Premier League goals for West Ham to fire them to a 3-1 victory over Cardiff.

The summer signing from Arsenal, on as a substitute for the injured Marko Arnautovic, found the net twice as the Hammers recorded back-to-back top-flight wins for the first time in almost two years.

Cardiff, still without an away win this season, blew a golden chance to take the lead when Joe Ralls missed a first-half penalty.

And Perez punished them after the break with a quickfire double before Michail Antonio also opened his Premier League account for the season.

With injuries beginning to bite in defence for West Ham winger Antonio had to start at right-back, a position previous boss Slaven Bilic had unsuccessfully tried him in.

Certainly Antonio was in no mood to curb his attacking instincts and planted an early header wide from a Robert Snodgrass free-kick.

Snodgrass and Felipe Anderson had shots deflected wide as West Ham, seemingly playing with six forwards, swarmed around the Cardiff penalty area.

Anderson then found Arnautovic with a delicious through-ball but the Austrian's attempted lob landed safely in the arms of City keeper Neil Etheridge.

Arnautovic thought he had opened the scoring in the 24th minute when he surged into the area and fired across Etheridge, but Sean Morrison got back in time to hack the ball off the line.

Yet West Ham almost paid the price for failing to make their dominance count when, first, Joe Bennett's cross was almost turned into his own net by Ogbonna.

Joe Ralls' first-half penalty miss proved to be costly for Cardiff (Mike Egerton/PA)

Moments later Arnautovic shoved Junior Hoillett over in the area to concede a soft penalty, but Hammers keeper Lukasz Fabianski guessed correctly, diving to his left to keep out Ralls' spot-kick.

Arnautovic's match came to a premature end with what appeared to be a hamstring injury, a potentially major blow for the hosts amidst a hectic December schedule.

Yet although Perez has endured a tough start to life in east London following his summer switch from Arsenal, he made up for the loss of Arnautovic within four minutes of the restart.

Bennett and Morrison had two stabs at heading the ball clear on the edge of the area and when neither could manage it, Snodgrass controlled it on his chest before flicking it through to Perez.

The Spaniard lashed the ball past a helpless Etheridge for his first Premier League goal since January 2017.

And within five minutes Perez had his second, beating Etheridge at his near post after being slipped in by Arthur Masuaku.

Antonio helped himself to the third when he nodded in a Snodgrass corner on the hour before Cardiff scored the scrappiest of consolation goals in stoppage time through Josh Murphy.

amp_article__343373 : Database Data restored...  : 
last updated article - 2018-12-05 10:03:42:
html db last update - 2018-12-05 10:03:42 :

ex - 7200 : read : read cache amp html
Share this article now:
Recommended Next on SM
Premier League Table
TeamPWDLFAGDPTS
1Liverpool108111961325
2Manchester CityMan City1072121111023
3Nottingham ForestNott'm Forest10541147719
4Chelsea105322012818
5Arsenal105321711618
6Aston Villa105321715218
7Tottenham HotspurSpurs1051422111116
8Brighton & Hove AlbionBrighton104421714316
9Fulham104331413115
10Bournemouth104331312115
11Newcastle UnitedNewcastle104331010015
12Brentford104151920-113
13Manchester UnitedMan Utd10334912-312
14West Ham UnitedWest Ham103251319-611
15Leicester CityLeicester102441418-410
16Everton102351017-79
17Crystal Palace10145813-57
18Ipswich TownIpswich100551021-115
19Southampton10118719-124
20Wolverhampton WanderersWolves100371427-133
Scroll for more - Tap for full version


Sports Mole provides in-depth previews and predictions for every match from the biggest leagues and competitions in world football.
AL
Sign up for our FREE daily preview newsletter direct to your inbox!

Loading ...

Failed to load data.



. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .