SUPERSEB RISES TO OCCASION
Haller strikes twice to lift the gloom on relieved Hammers
West Ham 3 Charlton 0
WEST HAM’s £45million flop Sebastien Haller won the crisis-club derby at the London Stadium to ease the pressure on the club’s owners.
Record signing Haller, who managed only seven goals last season, struck his first double since August 2019 against plucky Charlton.
They were the first goals he had scored since February and fellow flop Felipe Anderson added a third to make it an unhappy return to West Ham for Lee Bowyer.
The Addicks boss, a boyhood Hammers fan, spent two spells with the them as a player and has ambitions to one day manage the club. But his under-strength League One outfit couldn’t lay a glove on the home side, who made 10 changes, but still couldn’t find room for misfit midfielder Jack Wilshere.
The Irons have been in turmoil on and off the pitch, though it’s understood the club is not for sale, despite recent talk of a takeover.
But Charlton trump them for drama, being locked in a messy ownership struggle.
Spooked by their loss to
Newcastle or just desperate to give some big- name fringe players a game, Hammers boss David Moyes resisted the temptation to play the kids. So West Ham’s forward line to start the game was worth more than £ 100m with Haller, Andriy Yarmolenko and Anderson all given a chance.
But it was a different story for poor Charlton, who are still under a transfer embargo while they wait for their ownership to be decided in court and lost key players this summer. Bowyer is so short of players that he could only make three changes, one of them handing a debut to Manchester United loanee Dylan Levitt.
His side made a positive start, but it was the Hammers who should have struck first when Haller missed a sitter inside 20 minutes.
The Frenchman made up for it just two minutes later with a tap-in, though, after some good work from Yarmolenko.
And he then made it two on 26 minutes, with a bullet header from a Robert Snodgrass cross.
And Yarmolenko could have added a third when he sliced wide at the start of the second half. Charlton did have their moments and at times they even looked the better side.
But there seemed to be little urgency about Bowyer’s team, who are focusing on promotion this season.
Addicks keeper Ben Amos denied Snodgrass with a full- stretch, diving save, but Anderson grabbed the third goal with 10 minutes to go.
WEST HAM: Randolph 6, Johnson 6, Diop 6, Balbuena 6, Masuaku 7, Cullen 7, Snodgrass 6 (Coventry 84), Anderson 6, Lanzini 6, Haller 8, Yarmolenko 7
CHARLTON: Amos 6, Barker 6, Oshilaja 6, Pratley 6 (Gilbey 77), Purring ton 6, Lapslie 6, Levitt 6, Williams 7 (Washington 77), Oztumer 6, Bonne 6 (Aneke 46, 6), Doughty 6
REFEREE: Andre Marriner