West Ham shattered Leicester’s unbeaten start to the Premier League season with a surprise 3-0 win, while Oriol Romeu’s superb strike inspired Southampton’s 2-0 victory against West Bromwich Albion on Sunday.
After thrashing Manchester City 5-2 last weekend, second-placed Leicester were brought back down to earth as their three-game winning run came to an end at the King Power Stadium.
Goals from Michail Antonio, Pablo Fornals and Jarrod Bowen ruined Leicester’s bid to win their opening four league games for the first time in their history.
West Ham, who crushed Wolves 4-0 in their previous league game, have won three of their four matches since boss David Moyes tested positive for the coronavirus in September.
“I had hoped to be back with the squad for today’s fixture but I’m not quite ready to return just yet,” Moyes told West Ham’s website before kick-off at the King Power Stadium.
“I’m feeling generally fine but I have had some mild symptoms so we are taking it day by day and following the advice of the medical experts.”
Alan Irvine again managed from the dugout, while Moyes, watching at home on television, liaised with assistant Stuart Pearce by phone.
Moyes’ quarantine hasn’t affected West Ham and they took the lead in the 14th minute.
Having won a free-kick when he was fouled by Caglar Soyuncu, Antonio made a well-timed run to the far post, where he headed home from Aaron Cresswell’s pin-point cross.
Antonio is the first Hammers player to score in five consecutive top-flight away matches since Mike Small in 1991.
Jamie Vardy’s long-range chip over Lukasz Fabianski was disallowed after the Leicester striker’s foul on Angelo Ogbonna.
West Ham doubled their lead in the 34th minute, Fornals beating the offside trap as he controlled Cresswell’s long punt and ran clear to fire past Kasper Schmeichel for his first goal since February.
Leicester failed to muster a single shot on target and with seven minutes left, Bowen slotted home from Fornals’ pass.
At St Mary’s, Southampton won their second successive league game against lowly West Brom.
Ralph Hasenhuttl’s side dominated throughout and Ryan Bertrand’s fierce drive drew a superb early save from Albion keeper Sam Johnstone.
Ings forced an even better save from the over-worked Johnstone with a header that was pushed away by the 27-year-old.
Southampton’s pressure was rewarded in the 41st minute when Moussa Djenepo’s clever drag-back eluded Jake Livermore before the winger stroked his finish into the bottom corner.
Romeu, who hadn’t scored since February 2019, met Stuart Armstrong’s cross with a brilliant volley from the edge of the area to wrap up the points in the 69th minute.
West Brom are the first Premier League side to concede as many as 13 goals after four matches of a season since Southampton in 2012-13.
Albion, who blew a three-goal lead in their 3-3 draw with Chelsea last weekend, are winless in eight league matches dating back to last season.
AFP
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