West Ham achieved back to back wins for the first time since January 2017 by beating Cardiff City 3-1 at the London Stadium. The crowd was the Hammers’ lowest (though not by much!) at the Stadium this season, but they went home happy, with Manuel Pellegrini’s men continuing their progress up the table.

It wasn’t all one way traffic for West Ham though. One expected them to start fast off the blocks against a poor Cardiff side who’ve been absolutely woeful away from home. They did that reasonably well for about 20 minutes and then fell back into their old ways. The best chance in this period went to Marko Arnautovic, who showed a great burst of pace to speed past Sol Bamba, but his final shot was hacked off the line by Sean Morrison.

Perhaps frustrated by that miss, Arnautovic unnecessarily went and barged Junior Hoilett in the back, giving away a stupid penalty. Perhaps Arnie thought Hoilett was offside, but he wasn’t, and referee Graham Scott pointed to the spot. Joe Ralls decided to take the spot kick and Fabianski, one of West Ham’s best signings this season, produced what was effectively a match winning save.

Had that gone in, coupled with Marko Arnautovic’s injury minutes later and West Ham’s inconsistent form, one wouldn’t have bet against the Bluebirds going home with all three points, if not at least the solitary one. [Read more…]