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West Ham United 4 Huddersfield Town 3 | Talking Points

A late Javier Hernandez brace helped the Hammers hit back against Huddersfield after they came from behind in a seven-goal thriller at the London Stadium.
What a game, an exceptional combination of dreadful defending and some brilliant attacking play provided a glorious spectacle, providing an excellent advertisement for the Premier League. 
The first goal of the game came from the hosts. Young Aaron Rowe, who was making his full Huddersfield debut, unnecessarily tripped Manuel Lanzini in the box, giving away a penalty, which Mark Noble put away to give the Hammers a 1-0 lead.

Minutes later and there was another example of poor defending. Aaron Mooy delivered a good ball into the box, as Juninho Bacuna rose highest and completely unmarked equalised for the visitors. The shoddy defending just kept on coming. Chris Lowe found himself in some space following a free kick, sending in a scuffed cross. Though somehow it found Karlan Grant, who was left completely unmarked and directed the ball into the bottom right corner.

The second half got off to a similarly scintillating start. Grant picked up the ball in midfield, drove through the centre, cut onto his right foot and unleashed a screamer into the top corner, beyond Lucasz Fabianski. As if there wasn’t enough shocking defending already, Huddersfield tried to match West Ham’s earlier efforts. The Terriers defence fell asleep, allowing Angelo Ogbonna to stroll into the box completely unmarked and nod the ball into the back of the net. Substitutes Samir Nasri and Javier Hernandez then combined to complete the comeback. 
Nasri delivered a beautiful cross from the right to Javier Hernandez who glanced the ball into the bottom corner. In the first minute of added time, Hernandez then sent the home crowd into a frenzy. Felipe Anderson sent a chipped ball towards Hernandez who eluded the defence and headed home, wheeling away in ecstatic celebrations before being mobbed by his teammates


Super subs
It’s safe to say that both of Pellegrini’s substitutes made a brilliant impact after being introduced. Samir Nasri, who signed for the Hammers in January, created the goal that brought the game level. The experienced 31-year-old has two Premier League titles and is no stranger to the late comebacks and exhilarating football that English football offers. The Frenchman reacted well after Aaron Cresswell’s failed corner, by sending in a pinpoint ball for Hernandez to header home.Hernandez, who also has two Premier League titles to his name, produced an excellent substitute performance. Both of his goals were perhaps scrappy, but this shows the importance of positioning and converting half chances into goals – something that Huddersfield have missed this year. His brace today bolsters his season’s total up to seven goals, and as the season draws to a close, he could begin to play a significant part for West Ham.Positives for Huddersfield

Poor defending aside, the Terriers have plenty to be positive about. This was their highest-scoring game of the season and would have brought them off the bottom for the first time since December if they were able to hold out. Today’s game was only the second time that Huddersfield have scored more than once in the Premier League this season, a stat which goes to show their abysmal finishing.

Another more worrying statistic that the Terriers have now abolished is that this is the first time they’ve had more than one goalscorer in a league match since February 2018, against West Brom. A rarity from them. Given the disappointment of losing late on, Jan Siewert’s side should take some attacking impetus into their next game against Crystal Palace, who are also defensively unstable themselves.

Huddersfield boss, Siewert added that he wasn’t completely devastated, “Can’t you see on my face that I’m not totally disappointed?”

A defensive disaster for the Terriers

Former Borussia Dortmund reserve-team boss Siewert could hardly hide his frustration following his side’s late defeat, “I worked everything out to give my players a possibility of winning here, and they showed it – we were winning 3-1, but then they lost it with three situations.”

The first may have been prevented by tighter marking, stopping Ogbonna climbing to reach Cresswell’s corner. Town were also second best to react to a half-cleared set piece when Nasri collected the ball and teed up Hernandez to head home for the second. The third came in the dying minutes, Anderson picked up a short corner and clipped in the delivery. Three examples of poor defending, which could easily have been prevented – all three of the Hammer’s second-half goals began with left-wing corners taken by Aaron Cresswell.



The Hammer’s attacking arsenal come into use It no secret that West Ham have been stocking up on some seriously talented attacking options, such as Marko Arnautovic, Samir Nasri and Felipe Anderson. The attacking trio have combined to produce 22 goals, which is over half of the Hammers total this season. But how far can the Hammer go in the remaining games? The East London side currently sits ninth, only two points behind the newly promoted Wolves in seventh.
Unfortunately, any opportunity of a late Europa league quest would require Manchester City to win the FA Cup and created a third qualifying spot for the team that finishes seventh. But Watford and Wolves are both teams that Manuel Pellegrini will feel that his side should be able to overcome, especially if his team’s attack continue to hammer in the goals. Interestingly though, West Hams last game of the season is against the Hornets and could prove to be the deciding game for seventh place.
Man of the Match: Javier Hernandez
Despite only featuring for half of the game, his impact was indisputable, and he has the innate ability to score important goals. Both of his goals were well taken and clinical, and he will be challenging fellow striker Arnautovic for a regular starting place after this inspired performance.
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