West Ham United 3-1 Sunderland – Match Report
West Ham move to within 2 points off safety with an emphatic win over The Black Cats.
Sunderland were without Granit Xhaka for the first time this season, and it proved to be a huge miss, as Sunderland played extremely poorly throughout.
Crysencio Summerville opened the scoring for the home side after just 14 minutes, as Jarrod Bowen drove to the bi-line and lifted a beauty of a ball to the back post, where Summerville ran into the space and headed home.
West Ham we’re 2-0 up before half-time, after Ollie Scarles was brought down by Trai Hume inside the box, the referee gave a penalty and Jarrod Bowen stepped up and slotted it home superbly.
The Hammers’ fans must’ve been in Dreamland when Mateus Fernandes blasted the ball into the top left corner from 30-yards out, just before half-time to give the strugglers a 3-0 lead at the break.
Brian Brobbey scored for a second game in a row to pull one back for Sunderland with around 25 minutes remaining, with a brilliant header, but it wasn’t enough to spark a comeback.
The match was stopped for a couple of minutes towards the end, as it looked as though Granit Xhaka was having an altercation with a few West Ham fans behind the dugout, just to add to the drama towards the end.
West Ham came extremely close to adding a 4th right at the death, as Manuel Fernandes tried his luck again, from a similar distance, but it crashed off the underside of the bar.
Sunderland remain 9th, with all teams around them still to play this weekend, whilst West Ham remain in 18th, but close the gap to 2 points from safety.
