SILVER & GOLD
West Ham..2 Watford...0 Marko the man as Moyes works more magic
MARKO ARNAUTOVIC dyed his hair silver and turned West Ham’s season into gold.
The Austrian forward returned after four weeks out through injury and inspired, cajoled and threatened his team-mates into action once more.
He scored late in the game to settle nerves and when Watford finally realised they were in a match.
Arnautovic was the difference between the sides, providing moments of sheer magic to lift a game that was entertaining rather than thrilling.
He was helped by the electric pace of Michail Antonio down Watford’s left flank and Javier Hernandez grabbing the opening goal for a club that once desperately tried to unload him.
That was his third goal in four games just weeks after the Hammers wanted him out.
And following the scandal over the sacking of Tony Henry – the man in charge of player recruitment who claimed he did not want any more African players – co-owner David Sullivan went on record ahead of the match to promise wholesale changes to the way the club is run.
And he promised to back manager David Moyes – who has already raised the club to 12th in the league – on and off the field.
Sullivan said: “He’s a good manager and will prove it. I hope he stays with us for many, many years and achieves things and wins things.”
Despite their disappointing result at Brighton last week, the Hammers are increasingly happy at home. Against the background of a crippling injury list, they went into the game having lost just one of eight matches at the London Stadium under Moyes.
But West Ham can be fallible when teams go after them.
Yesterday, their defence stood firm with James Collins immense under an onslaught.
Keeper Adrian, who showed why he is keeping Joe Hart on the bench, produced a reaction save to punch out Adrian Mariappa’s header from Gerard Deulofeu’s seventh-minute corner.
Arnautovic led the response four minutes later with a mesmerising run in Watford’s area which finished with Joao Mario’s shot being saved by Orestis Karnezis.
Hernandez then headed into the Watford net in the 31st minute from Mario’s cross but was waved offside.
And after Karnezis saved brilliantly from Arnautovic, they took they lead in the 37th minute.
Antonio set off on another pacy run and crossed for Hernandez to head in – courtesy of a gentle push on Marvin Zeegelaar.
Watford are a good side with several decent individual players but they are not world beaters and it shows how badly Chelsea must have played on Monday for them to hammer four goals past the champions. They landed some lucky punches against a 10-man side and arrived believing their own publicity.
They defend well, defend tight, and on their sloping Vicarage Road pitch are a menace.
Away from it they struggle and arrived having not won one of their last seven games away.
They have also failed to keep a clean in 10 of their previous 11 matches on the road.
After a first half in which they looked nothing more than ordinary, Watford produced a spirited second-half recovery – helped by West Ham’s lack of midfield quality, poor finishing and few with the ability to support magic Marko.
He settled the game with a goal in the 77th minute, finishing off a catalogue of errors.
First Antonio could have been booked for diving, in the box, Aaron Cresswell picked up the loose ball, fired in a cross which was wealky parried by Karnezis.
And with the ball bouncing around the box, it fell to Arnautovic, who took a cool touch before sliding home.
Moyes said: “A lot of managers have tried to get the best out of him. I will get no praise for it but I will not let him off the hook.
“Marko was superb. He had only trained three days this week and you can see the impact he has.
“I did not know he had dyed his hair. He came in with a hat on. When I saw it I thought it was a purple rinse!”
Watford manager Javi Gracia said: “Our last match against Chelsea showed how we can get points, by fighting. Today we did not do it enough.”