Perez ends goal drought as Fabianski saves third penalty
Lucas Perez had waited 700 days to end his Premier League goal drought – and then two came along at once, as West Ham United secured a second successive victory.
Perez had not netted in the top flight since scoring for Arsenal in January 2017, but the striker stepped off the bench to grab a quick-fire double in what became a stroll against Cardiff City.
Michail Antonio headed West Ham’s third goal on a night that might have finished differently for Manuel Pellegrini’s team if penalty specialist Lukasz Fabianski had not saved a first-half Joe Ralls spot-kick.
The save meant the goalkeeper has now stopped each of the last three penalties he has faced in the Premier League, although he did not end the night with a clean sheet, after Cardiff substitute Josh Murphy scored in stoppage time.
This was West Ham’s first backto-back league victory, following their win at Newcastle, since January 2017. “They were very important goals for the team,” said Pellegrini. “For different reasons, Lucas didn’t start before this game, but he did very well tonight and I hope he will continue in this way.”
The home side dominated the opening half-an-hour with Marko Arnautovic going close on three occasions and Cardiff goalkeeper Neil Etheridge saving well from Angelo Ogbonna and Declan Rice in quick succession.
But it was a three-minute spell near the end of the first half that changed the course of the match. There looked to be no danger when Junior Hoilett ran into the penalty area, but Arnautovic barged into the back of the winger and ref Graham Scott pointed to the spot.
It was a golden opportunity for the Welsh club, but Ralls produced a weak strike from six yards and former Swansea goalie Fabianksi dived low to his left to save.
Looking to immediately make amends, Arnautovic chased a ball forwards, but fell to the floor clutching his hamstring and had to be replaced by Perez.
It took just nine minutes of the second half for Perez to get on the scoresheet twice and effectively kill the contest. First, in the 49th minute, Cardiff failed to deal with a hopeful lob from Mark Noble. The ball fell to Robert Snodgrass and he played in Perez to finish past the helpless Etheridge.
The visitors were caught out again when Arthur Masuaku broke down the left and found Perez, who fired the ball through the legs of the Cardiff goalkeeper.
Neil Warnock’s team fell three behind just after the hour when Antonio, who had replaced Pablo Zabaleta at right-back, rose highest to head a Snodgrass corner into the back of the net.
Murphy bundled in a scruffy injury-time effort for Cardiff, but the damage was done long before.
“It would have been interesting if the penalty had gone in, because you could sense the home side turning,” said Warnock. “But I won’t criticise Ralls, because it takes guts to take a penalty and I still can’t even watch one.”
The manager added: “We definitely need a striker because we can’t keep asking [Callum] Paterson to play there.”
Jack Wilshere, who had made a five-minute substitute appearance against Newcastle and had been described as a “£100million player” by Pellegrini 24 hours earlier, was missing from West Ham’s matchday squad. “He was feeling some small pain in his ankle and we didn’t want to take a risk,” said his manager.
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