West Ham United entertained Sheffield United at the London Stadium earlier this evening as they looked to pick up all three points at home. The Hammers fought tooth and nail in the first half and took the lead in the 41st minute courtesy of Declan Rice’s penalty. David Moyes’ men kept hold of their narrow advantage and went into the half-time break one goal to the good.
Issa Diop doubled his team’s lead near the hour mark, which put West Ham in a commanding position heading into the final quarter of the match. Ryan Fredericks came off the bench to put the icing on the cake by scoring an injury-time goal that gave the Hammers a comfortable 3-0 victory at the English capital.
Let’s take a look at how each West Ham player fared during the clash against the Blades.
GK: Łukasz Fabiański – 7.5/10
The West Ham keeper made a few important saves for his team and cruised to another clean sheet at the London Stadium.
CB: Issa Diop – 8/10
Diop hardly gave away anything in defence and put daylight between the two sides when he found the back of the net in the 58th minute.
CB: Craig Dawson – 7/10
He made a couple of crucial interceptions and was not shy of clearing his lines when required. He did enough work in defence to restrict the Blades from scoring.
CB: Aaron Cresswell – 7.5/10
Cresswell was defensively solid and picked up a good assist as well. Moyes will be quite happy with his performance this evening.
RWB: Vladimír Coufal – 7/10
Coufal mopped up the danger quite well inside his half and was lively going forward. He put in another solid performance today.
CM: Tomas Soucek – 7/10
Soucek battled for every loose possession of the ball and pulled off several essential interceptions for his side. He also created one good chance in the attacking third.
CM: Declan Rice – 7/10
The English midfield ace didn’t have too much defending to do but deserves credit for keeping his calm and converting his penalty in the first half.
LWB: Ben Johnson – 7/10
He didn’t put a foot wrong when defending at the back and also generated a decent chance in the Sheffield United half.
RAM: Manuel Lanzini – 6.5/10
The Argentine playmaker created quite a few inviting opportunities for his teammates to score. However, there was no goal or assist for him this evening.
LAM: Jesse Lingard – 7/10
Lingard caused all sorts of problems for the Blades defenders but failed to take any of the goal-scoring chances that fell in his path during his time on the field.
ST: Jarrod Bowen – 6/10
He worked hard to lead the line as a makeshift centre-forward but didn’t get too many openings to get his name on the scoresheet.
Substitutes:
CM: Mark Noble – 6.5/10
Noble brought some energy and leadership onto the field.
LAM: Said Benrahma – 7/10
He picked up a good assist for setting up Fredericks’ injury-time goal.
LWB: Ryan Fredericks – N/A
Fredericks came off the bench to score in the dying embers of the game.
