Canaries Out of Tune Against Hammers

The last time West Ham United visited Carrow Road they came away with a 4-0 win, a feat which they repeated on Sunday afternoon.

Łukasz Fabiański and Saïd Benrahma came back into the starting line-up as David Moyes made two changes from Thursday’s UEFA Europa League semi-final defeat against Eintracht Frankfurt.

The Hammers, who hadn’t won a Premier League game on the road since New Year’s Day, were determined to get stuck into the home side who had already been relegated and Benrahma forced a corner as early as the second minute.

The visitor piled on the pressure and eventually made it pay just ten minutes later. A great team move was finished off by Benrahma with a little help from Canaries’ goalkeeper Tim Krul.

Dean Smith’s side rallied but failed to seriously trouble the Hammer’s defence and they went further behind on the half hour. Michail Antonio latched onto Jarrod Bowen’s pass, Krul appeared to have claimed the ball but then spilled it and the Iron’s frontman was left with the simple task of passing the ball into the empty net.

West Ham almost had a third just minutes later. Antonio and Benrahma set up Manuel Lanzini whose effort presented Bowen with the easiest of chances but the former Hull City winger somehow failed to convert.

The large travelling contingent were able to celebrate a third goal before the break as this time, Lanzini and Bowen set up Benrahma who sent his shot flying past Krul.

With that, referee Robert Jones, blew his whistle and the Hammers were in a commanding position.

Antonio suffered a heavy challenge in the closing stages of the first forty five minutes, and Moyes was forced into a change during the interval, replacing the former Nottingham Forest man with Andriy Yarmolenko.

The complexion of the game could have changed immediately after the restart when Fabiański failed to hold a Canaries’ corner allowing former Hammer Sam Byram to head in but VAR spotted a handball and the goal was ruled out.

On sixty five minutes another handball from the home side, again spotted by VAR, resulted in the East Londoners being awarded a penalty. Lanzini stepped up and cooly slotted the ball past Krul.

Soon after the points had seemingly been wrapped up, Craig Dawson sustained a calf injury and Mark Noble was sent on for another appearance on his 35th birthday.

Fornels went close to adding a fifth and with fifteen minutes left Benrahma almost completed his hat-trick but Byram was in the way. That was his last action and he was replaced by Nikola Vlašić.

The Hammers played out a comfortable final ten minutes before Jones blew the final whistle. They can now look ahead to their final home game of the season when Manchester City arrive on Sunday afternoon.