Felipe fires in brilliant brace as patched-up Hammers roar back
WHEN you are so short of personnel that you must dip into your pool of kids and can only name six substitutes, it helps to have a talent like Felipe Anderson at your disposal.
West Ham arrived at Southampton with a squad down to the bare bones. Ten sidelined players meant there were two academy graduates on the pitch and two more on the bench.
They were up against it from the beginning but Anderson showed why he cost a club record £40million. He scored twice as West Ham came back to win and deny the Saints a third successive victory under Ralph Hasenhuttl.
The boy who grew up in Brazil unable to afford football boots is now flying in the Premier League. The 25-year-old has scored seven goals in his last nine games, and all seven of those have come in the second half. The best player outside of the Big Six? He is certainly a contender.
There were other pivotal performances for the visitors, too. Declan Rice, aged 19, played like an old pro in midfield. Goalkeeper Lukasz Fabianski resembled a brick wall at times.
Yet Anderson took the plaudits because he did what the best players do — he won this game for West Ham when they went into it fearing the worst.
Fabian Balbuena and Javier Hernandez were ruled out, joining Marko Arnautovic, Jack Wilshere, Andriy Yarmolenko, Manuel Lanzini, Ryan Fredericks, Carlos Sanchez and Winston Reid on the treatment table. Pablo Zabaleta did not travel due to illness.
So in the absence of those 10, Michail Antonio started at right back, Aaron Cresswell captained on his first appearance in almost a month and Lucas Perez led the line. West Ham were worried and Southampton supporters fancied their chances.
The last time the Saints won three on the trot in the Premier League was in 2016, when they had Virgil van Dijk at the back and Sadio Mane at the front.
The forward turning heads on the South Coast now is Nathan Redmond, a player reborn under Hasenhuttl, and it took him only two minutes to sting the palms of Fabianski from 18 yards.
Danny Ings then had Antonio and Angelo Ogbonna between him and the goal but ghosted beyond both as if he had been studying clips of Diego Maradona over Christmas. His subsequent toe-poke could only find the side-netting.
This sort of attacking style of play felt alien to fans under Hasenhuttl’s predecessor Mark Hughes. The Austrian patrolled the touchline throughout, always demanding more.
West Ham survived the frantic start and grew into the game. Robert Snodgrass, the Scot who adores a screamer, tested Saints goalkeeper Alex McCarthy with a dipping shot from 25 yards.
As half-time neared, the sight of Rice putting out fires became more and more familiar.
‘Sign him up, sign him up, Declan Rice,’ sang the visiting supporters. They aren’t wrong. If West Ham do not tie Rice down to a new deal, then a Big Six club will.
The visitors finished the half with a Snodgrass effort from the edge of the box that whizzed wide by only a yard. McCarthy never
moved and was grateful to see the shot fly off target.
Considering his lack of options, Pellegrini will have walked back to the dressing room satisfied — both with his side’s efforts and with the fact no one else had joined his injury list.
The manager’s mood took a turn for the worse when Southampton stole the lead after 50 minutes following a series of shots that made West Ham’s box look like a pinball machine. From Stuart Armstrong to Oriol Romeu to Redmond, they all had a go.
It was a combination of Redmond and a sliding challenge from Ogbonna that finally saw the ball cross the line.
The home side did not have the lead for long. In the 53rd minute, Anderson lined up a low shot from close to 25 yards and arrowed it into the bottom corner. West Ham took the lead when Anderson broke free following a through-ball by Antonio which left him with only goalkeeper to beat. It was never in doubt. The Brazilian smacked it over McCarthy and into the net.
West Ham felt they should have had an opportunity to put the game to bed when Snodgrass went down in the box under a challenge from Jannik Vestergaard but referee Craig Pawson said no penalty.
Not to worry, though, as Southampton could not stage a comeback. Anderson even had the chance to complete his hat-trick in stoppage time.
Back to winning ways for Pellegrini’s West Ham and back to the drawing board for Hasenhuttl.