Written by : Jonathan Lee
How nice to hand out a strong set of marks, especially with it being away as well – a very professional and clinical display which was crucial given subsequent wins by the other three teams vying to avoid the two remaining relegation places – Friday night’s game against Watford is now huge given the games left after that are at Old Trafford (against a Man U team on fire) and then Villa who might just need a win to stay up – in the words of Brian Moore (for those ‘more experienced fans’*), “ it’s up for grabs now …”
* Credit: Russ, My Hammers XI
Fabianski 6.5 – a quiet game, made a couple of decent stops
Fredericks 7 – set up fourth goal and as ever used pace to cover well on a couple of occasions
Cresswell 7 – much better deliveries and never really troubled down his side
Diop 8.5 – top performance with an important early clearance, flick on for the opener, and always in control
Ogbonna 7 – another solid display although never really tested by Pukki
Soucek 7.5 – popped up in the box a couple of times and looked very comfortable in midfield, one fine effort first half tipped over by Krul
Rice 7.5 – back to his best always looking for a forward pass, nice quick one touch passing
Noble 8 – many raised an eyebrow on his inclusion but played the man in the hole role ever so well creating the second and third goals and cleverly feeding Fredericks in the build up to the fourth
Fornals 7 – against weaker opposition his work rate made an impact, retained possession well
Bowen 7.5 – always looked to make an opening and full of energy, unlucky not to score
Antonio 9.5 – the first four goal haul since David Cross in 1981 and the first for us in the Premier League era, took his goals ever so well and a constant menace, somewhere near a repeat against Watford would be timely
Subs:
Wilshere (77 mins for Noble) 6
Haller (78 mins for Antonio) 6
Arthur (85 mins for Fornals) 6
Yarmolenko (85 mins for Bowen) 6
Balbuena (87 mins for Ogbonna) 6
None made any real impact effectively just seeing the game out
