West Ham 3-0 Southampton: Saints well beaten in penultimate game of season
By Marc Walker
Southampton fell to a lacklustre 3-0 defeat away to West Ham on Saturday in their penultimate Premier League game of the season.
A brace from Hammers striker Marko Arnautovic saw him continue his good record against the Saints, whilst full-back Ryan Fredericks added a third to fully show how comfortable the victory was for the hosts.
Ralph Hasenhuttl had spoken about changes ahead of this game and he made four to his starting line-up in London.
There were starts for Stuart Armstrong, Mohamed Elyounoussi, Mario Lemina and a first for Fraser Forster for well over a year. Nathan Redmond, James Ward-Prowse, Oriol Romeu and Angus Gunn all dropped to the bench.
It was Saints who would have the first shot in anger of the contest, but Armstrong’s effort flew well over as he was played through by Danny Ings.
Efforts from Grady Diangana and Mohamed Elyounoussi were also wayward, but West Ham claimed the opening goal of the game after 15 minutes.
Mark Noble slid Marko Arnautovic through with a nicely weighted ball and the Austrian forward had no problems in finishing well past Forster to make it 1-0.
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It was a start from Saints that saw them lacking any cohesion – with Jack Stephens and Jan Bednarek in particular seemingly struggling as a central pairing at the back.
Having played for much of the season with a five-man defence, the change to four here looked to have a few players confused about their roles.
Some were playing for their futures at the club but no player in yellow and blue had grabbed their chance in the first period.
A positive change was made by Hasenhuttl at half-time as bright spark Nathan Redmond came on in place of Danny Ings, and the winger had an immediate effect.
His busy style saw him linking with Long and Armstrong in attack and it was he who had the first Saints shot on target with a stinging volley that Fabianski tipped over.
It had been a positive start to the half but had only produced one clear chance, and this allowed West Ham to confirm their comfortable win with two quickfire goals.
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Marko Arnautovic would net his second as he headed in from close-range and then full-back Ryan Fredericks got in on the act to capitalise on some very lacklustre Saints defensive play.
It had been a poor display from the visitors to the London Stadium and their showing had a very end-of-season feel to it.
However, a lack of conviction here could well prove costly for some of the squad with a pivotal summer window upcoming.